Formation of periodic structures on glass with laser irradiation

Abstract

Regular and tidy periodic structures have been directly induced on glasses using a CW CO2 laser beam with linear polarization. It is experimentally shown that precise periodic structures with the period of several microns can be formed by means of well-set laser parameters. The orientation of the periodic structures formed is the same as that of the laser polarization no matter what the scanning direction is. The occurrence of periodic structures is very sensitive to laser power level and scanning velocity. To obtain appropriate periodic patterns, a combined condition of laser energy and scanning velocity must be satisfied. The period, width and height of the structures are dependent on processing parameters. An interesting phenomenon is that the period decreases with increasing scanning velocity. Permanent relieves with periods, widths and heights varied with the laser parameters are also studied.