Femtosecond LIPSS on indium-tin oxide thin films at IR wavelengths

In our work we focused femtosecond laser pulses in the infrared region onto conducting indium-tin-oxide (ITO) thin films. We observed laser induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) with increasing periodicity close to lambda/10 scaling. We conducted supporting finite-difference time-domain calculations to investigate the origin of these morphologies. The results suggest that the surface forms are rooted in the field localization in the surface pits leading to a periodically increased absorption of the laser pulse energy that creates the observed periodic structures.

Automated summary

In this study, we used femtosecond laser pulses to irradiate conducting ITO thin films in the infrared region, and observed laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS). Through finite-difference time-domain calculations, we found that these surface structures are rooted in the field localization in surface pits, which leads to periodically increased absorption of laser pulse energy and the generation of periodic structures.