XUV pulses at 26.2 nm wavelength were applied to induce graphitization of diamond through a non-thermal solid-to-solid phase transition. This process was observed within poly-crystalline diamond with a time-resolved experiment using ultrashort XUV pulses and cross correlated by ultrashort optical laser pulses. This scheme enabled for the first time the measurement of a phase transition on a timescale of ~150 fs. Excellent agreement between experiment and theoretical predictions was found, using a dedicated code that followed the non-equilibrium evolution of the irradiated diamond including all transient electronic and structural changes. These observations confirm that ultrashort XUV pulses can induce a non-thermal ultrafast solid-to-solid phase transition on a hundred femtosecond timescale.
Single shot radiation damage of bulk silicon induced by ultrashort XUV pulses was studied.
The sample was chosen because it is broadly used in XUV optics and detectors where
radiation damage is a key issue. It was irradiated at FLASH facility in Hamburg, which
provides intense femtosecond pulses at 32.5 nm wavelength. The permanent structural
modifications of the surfaces exposed to single shots were characterized by means of phase
contrast optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Mechanisms of different, intensity
dependent stages of the surface damage are described.
Ultra-fast soft x-ray lasers have opened a new area of laser-matter interactions which in most cases differ from the well
understood interaction of UV-vis radiation with solid targets. The photon energy >30eV essentially exceeds the width of
band gap in any known material and excites the electrons from the deep atomic and valence levels directly to the
conduction band. Both thermal and non-thermal phenomena can occur in such a material being caused by electron
thermalization and bond breaking, respectively. We report the first observation of non-thermal single-shot soft x-ray
laser induced desorption occurring below the ablation threshold in a thin layer of poly (methyl methacrylate) - PMMA.
Irradiated by the focused beam from the Free-electron LASer in Hamburg (FLASH) at 21.7nm, the samples have been
investigated by an atomic-force microscope (AFM) enabling the visualization of mild surface modifications caused by
the desorption. A model describing non-thermal desorption and ablation has been developed and used to analyze singleshot
imprints in PMMA. An intermediate regime of materials removal has been found, confirming the model predictions.
We also report below-threshold multiple-shot desorption of PMMA induced by high-order harmonics (HOH) at 32nm as
a proof of an efficient material removal in the desorption regime.
The formation of well-defined craters is a general feature of laser ablation with ultrashort laser pulses, indicative of a sharp ablation threshold. Results of a microscopic characterization of ablation craters on semiconductors after irradiation with single intense ultrashort laser pulses are presented.
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