Femtosecond laser ablation of single-wall carbon nanotube-based material

Single- and multi-shot femtosecond laser surface ablation of a single-wall carbon nanotube-based substrate at 515- and 1030 nm wavelengths was studied by scanning electron microscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The laser ablation proceeds in two ways: as the low-fluence mesoscopic shallow disintegration of the surface nanotube packing, preserving the individual integrity and the semiconducting character of the nanotubes or as the high-fluence deep material removal apparently triggered by the strong intrinsic or impurity-mediated ablation of the individual carbon nanotubes on the substrate surface.