High-speed femtosecond laser plasmonic lithography and reduction of graphene oxide for anisotropic photoresponse

Abstract

Micro/nanoprocessing of graphene surfaces has attracted significant interest for both science and applications due to its effective modulation of material properties, which, however, is usually restricted by the disadvantages of the current fabrication methods. Here, by exploiting cylindrical focusing of a femtosecond laser on graphene oxide (GO) films, we successfully produce uniform subwavelength grating structures at high speed along with a simultaneous in situ photoreduction process. Strikingly, the well-defined structures feature orientations parallel to the laser polarization and significant robustness against distinct perturbations. The proposed model and simulations reveal that the structure formation is based on the transverse electric (TE) surface plasmons triggered by the gradient reduction of the GO film from its surface to the interior, which eventually results in interference intensity fringes and spatially periodic interactions. Further experiments prove that such a regular structured surface can cause enhanced optical absorption (>20%) and an anisotropic photoresponse (~0.46 ratio) for the reduced GO film. Our work not only provides new insights into understanding the laser-GO interaction but also lays a solid foundation for practical usage of femtosecond laser plasmonic lithography, with the prospect of expansion to other two-dimensional materials for novel device applications.

Quo Vadis LIPSS?—Recent and Future Trends on Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structures

“…Hence, several groups are exploring the (contactless) formation of LIPSS on various overlayer materials [ 86 , 87 ]. Furthermore, following the general trend of research on graphene (triggered by the Nobel prize awarded in 2010), several authors studied the formation of LIPSS on graphene or graphene oxide-covered substrates [ 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 ]. It was demonstrated that LIPSS manifesting via structural modifications of the graphene or the material underneath can be used as local probe of plasmonic resonances [ 91 , 92 ].…”

“…Furthermore, following the general trend of research on graphene (triggered by the Nobel prize awarded in 2010), several authors studied the formation of LIPSS on graphene or graphene oxide-covered substrates [ 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 ]. It was demonstrated that LIPSS manifesting via structural modifications of the graphene or the material underneath can be used as local probe of plasmonic resonances [ 91 , 92 ]. LIPSS for sensing applications: One of the first applications of LIPSS came up in the context of black silicon that can be generated upon ultrashort laser processing of silicon as hierarchical surface morphology consisting of micrometric Spikes [ 93 ] covered with nanometric LIPSS.…”

Scalable and High-Throughput Top-Down Manufacturing of Optical Metasurfaces

“…Furthermore, the extraordinary optical properties of metasurfaces enable the perfect absorption of light [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ], and light manipulating applications such as beam splitting [ 31 , 32 , 33 ], verification and enhancement of the spin Hall effect [ 34 , 35 , 36 ], asymmetric transmission [ 37 ], multifunctional waveguides [ 38 ], and other light-manipulation applications [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]. In addition, the researches on various materials of the metasurfaces have been actively reported: a metasurface-based solar reflector using vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) [ 43 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ], a study on the manufacturing of graphene oxide film for anisotropic photoresponse [ 54 ], and the scalable nanostructures of molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) [ 55 ]. However, in order for existing bulk optical devices or components to be completely replaced with metasurfaces, those metasurfaces must be fabricated consistently with a large area and high throughput.…”

Overview of Laser Applications in Manufacturing and Materials Processing in Recent Years

“…Transactions of the ASME plasmonic lithography (FPL) was presented as large-area manufacturing technique to generate nanoscale patterned photoreduction of graphene oxide (GO) films on a silicon substrate [440]. Periodic grating structure (∼680 nm period) can be induced at a centimeter scale.…”