Probing the formation of femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures on silica films by ultrafast small-angle X-ray scattering
Abstract
Ultrashort X-ray pulses, as provided by X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFELs), offer unique opportunities to probe the formation of laser-induced nanostructures with sizes even below the optical diffraction limit, with sub-micometer and sub-picosecond spatial and temporal resolution. Using ultrafast small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), we probe the formation of nanoscatterers and nanocracks in reciprocal space as they evolve into different types of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) on silica films. Our focus is on the dynamics and evolution of nanoscatterers and high spatial frequency LIPSS (HSFL), with spatial periods below 100 nm. Our experiments include an in-situ analysis of the pulse-by-pulse evolution of HSFL at a fixed sample location, as well as fs time-resolved delay and fluence scans using an ultrafast pump-probe scheme. We find that nanoscatterers and periodic nanocracks form at delay times of hundreds of picoseconds and subsequently evolve into HSFL. At low laser fluences, inter-pulse incubation effects become important during multi-pulse irradiation. Simultaneously, inter-pulse feedback leads to an ordering and improve the regularity of the HSFL. The experiments are complemented by theoretical analyses, including numerical Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) simulations. These combined analyses allow us to propose a five-stage model of LIPSS formation on silica films upon irradiation with fs-laser pulses.
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BibTeX
@misc{kaczmarek2026probing,
title = {{Probing the formation of femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures on silica films by ultrafast small-angle X-ray scattering}},
author = {Dominik Kaczmarek and Jean-Luc Déziel and Thies Johannes Albert and Matthias Weise and Jerzy Antonowicz and Robert Carley and Devesh Chopra and Loïc Le Guyader and Laurent Mercadier and Giuseppe Mercurio and Roman Minikayev and Mianzhen Mo and Andreas Scherz and Ryszard Sobierajski and Yanwen Sun and Martin Teichmann and Peter Zalden and Klaus Sokolowski-Tinten and Jörn Bonse},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.31333},
eprint = {2609.31333},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31333},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Probing the formation of femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures on silica films by ultrafast small-angle X-ray scattering
AU - Dominik Kaczmarek
AU - Jean-Luc Déziel
AU - Thies Johannes Albert
AU - Matthias Weise
AU - Jerzy Antonowicz
AU - Robert Carley
AU - Devesh Chopra
AU - Loïc Le Guyader
AU - Laurent Mercadier
AU - Giuseppe Mercurio
AU - Roman Minikayev
AU - Mianzhen Mo
AU - Andreas Scherz
AU - Ryszard Sobierajski
AU - Yanwen Sun
AU - Martin Teichmann
AU - Peter Zalden
AU - Klaus Sokolowski-Tinten
AU - Jörn Bonse
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.31333
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31333
AB - Ultrashort X-ray pulses, as provided by X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFELs), offer unique opportunities to probe the formation of laser-induced nanostructures with sizes even below the optical diffraction limit, with sub-micometer and sub-picosecond spatial and temporal resolution. Using ultrafast small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), we probe the formation of nanoscatterers and nanocracks in reciprocal space as they evolve into different types of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) on silica films. Our focus is on the dynamics and evolution of nanoscatterers and high spatial frequency LIPSS (HSFL), with spatial periods below 100 nm. Our experiments include an in-situ analysis of the pulse-by-pulse evolution of HSFL at a fixed sample location, as well as fs time-resolved delay and fluence scans using an ultrafast pump-probe scheme. We find that nanoscatterers and periodic nanocracks form at delay times of hundreds of picoseconds and subsequently evolve into HSFL. At low laser fluences, inter-pulse incubation effects become important during multi-pulse irradiation. Simultaneously, inter-pulse feedback leads to an ordering and improve the regularity of the HSFL. The experiments are complemented by theoretical analyses, including numerical Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) simulations. These combined analyses allow us to propose a five-stage model of LIPSS formation on silica films upon irradiation with fs-laser pulses.
ER -