Picosecond Laser Ablation of Millimeter-Wave Subwavelength Structures on Alumina and Sapphire

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates ultrafast laser ablation to create subwavelength structures on alumina and sapphire, achieving significantly higher ablation rates and proposing a model relating structure height to laser fluence for improved process control.

Contribution

It introduces a high-rate picosecond laser ablation method for subwavelength structures on ceramics and develops a predictive model based on laser fluence and absorption properties.

Findings

Ablation rates up to 34 mm³/min on alumina

Ablation rates up to 20 mm³/min on sapphire

Model predicts structure height based on laser fluence

Abstract

We use a 1030 nm laser with 7 ps pulse duration and average power up to 100 W to ablate pyramid-shape subwavelength structures (SWS) on alumina and sapphire. The SWS give an effective and cryogenically robust anti-reflection coating in the millimeter-wave band. We demonstrate average ablation rate of up to 34 mm$^3$/min and 20 mm$^3$/min for structure heights of 900 $\mu$m and 750 $\mu$m on alumina and sapphire, respectively. These rates are a factor of 34 and 9 higher than reported previously on similar structures. We propose a model that relates structure height to cumulative laser fluence. The model depends on the absorption length $\delta$, which is assumed to depend on peak fluence, and on the threshold fluence $\phi_{th}$. Using a best-fit procedure we find an average $\delta = 630$ nm and 650 nm, and $\phi_{th} = 2.0^{+0.5}_{-0.5}$ J/cm$^2$ and $2.3^{+0.1}_{-0.1}$ J/cm$^2$ for alumina and sapphire, respectively, for peak fluence values between 30 and 70 J/cm$^{2}$. With the best fit values, the model and data values for cumulative fluence agree to within 10%. Given inputs for $\delta$ and $\phi_{th}$ the model is used to predict average ablation rates as a function of SWS height and average laser power.