Micro-structuring, ablation, and defect generation in graphene with femtosecond pulses

Femtosecond micromachining offers a contact-free and mask-less technique for material patterning. Femtosecond pulse irradiation of single layer graphene by low energy pulses around 12 nJ over a 15 second illumination period is studied. The ablated graphene holes are surrounded by a radially symmetric region characterized by generated defects, whose extension can be modified based on the laser fluence. The femtosecond induced structural modifications can be attractive for graphene or carbon-based device fabrication as well as sensor and transistor applications, where regions of varying carrier concentrations and different electrical, optical, or physical properties are desired. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement