Blister formation in dynamic release mirror structures using femtosecond laser pulses

Alan T.K. Godfrey, Deepak L.N. Kallepalli, Sabaa Rashid, Jesse Ratté, Chunmei Zhang, P. B. Corkum*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Blister formation occurs when a laser pulse interacts with the underside of a polymer film on a glass substrate and is fundamental in Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT). We present a novel method of controlling blister formation using a thin metal film situated between two thin polymer films. This enables a wide range of laser pulse energies by limiting the laser penetration in the film, which allows us to exploit nonlinear interactions without transmitting high intensities that may destroy a transfer material. We study blisters using a helium ion microscope, which images their interiors, and find that laser energy deposition is primarily in the metal layer and the top polymer layer remains intact. Blister expansion is driven by laser-induced spallation of the gold film. Our work shows that this technique could be a viable platform for contaminant-free LIFT using nonlinear absorption beyond the diffraction limit.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)39922-39931
Number of pages10
JournalOptics Express
Volume30
Issue number22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Oct 2022
Externally publishedYes

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