Zero-OAM laser printing of chiral nanoneedles

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the formation of chiral nanoneedles on metal surfaces using zero-OAM laser beams, revealing that thermocapillary effects, not optical angular momentum, drive the process.

Contribution

It introduces a novel zero-OAM laser method for creating chiral nanostructures, challenging the previous assumption that OAM is necessary for such effects.

Findings

Chiral nanoneedles formed on silver and gold surfaces with zero-OAM laser beams.

Thermocapillary mass transfer, not OAM, governs nanoneedle formation.

Temperature-gradient effects dominate the chiral structuring process.

Abstract

Laser irradiation of various materials including metals, polymers and semiconductors with vortex beams was previously shown to twist transiently molten matter providing the direct easy-to-implement way to obtain chiral surface relief. Specifically for metals, this effect was attributed to transfer of an optical angular momentum (OAM) carrying by the vortex beam. In this Letter, we report the formation of twisted metal nanoneedles on the surface of silver and gold metal films under their irradiation with zero-OAM laser beam having spiral-shape lateral intensity distribution. Our comparative experiments clearly demonstrate, for the first time, that the formation process of chiral nanoneedles on the surface of plasmonic-active metals is mainly governed by the temperature-gradient induced chiral thermocapillary mass transfer rather that the OAM driven rotation of the transiently molten matter.