Plasmon-polariton surface modes and nanostructuring of semiconductors by femtosecond laser pulses

This paper analyzes the published experimental data on the surface breakdown of semiconductors as a result of the action of a series of pulses of polarized femtosecond laser radiation, accompanied by the formation of regular and disordered micro- and nanostructures. The detected features of the ordered breakdown of transparent and opaque semiconductors and insulators are explained in terms of an extended universal polariton model of laser-induced breakdown of condensed media, including the excitation and interference of cylindrical surface plasmon-polaritons. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America.