Optical and Quantum Electronics Volume 49, No.1, January 2017, Article 40, Pages 1-9
E. I. Ageev, D. V. Potorochin, D. V. Sachenko, G. V. Odintsova
Generation of web-like structures and nanoparticles by femtosecond laser ablation of silicon target in ambient air
Optical and Quantum Electronics Volume 49, No.1, January 2017, Article 40, Pages 1-9
DOI: 10.1007/s11082-016-0875-5
Silicon nanoparticles were produced by femtosecond laser ablation in ambient air. Obtained samples were studied using dark-field optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Raman-scattering spectroscopy. Two groups of structures can be found: (1) branched amorphous structures with a minimum element size of about 10 nm and incorporations of nanocrystals (0.6–6.6 nm from Raman scattering analysis); (2) larger crystal particles with smooth surface and a typical size of 50–200 nm that provide directional visible light scattering (at dark-field optical microscopy observations). An influence of environment on resulting phase composition of silicon nanoparticles was investigated by numerical evaluation of nanoparticle’s cooling rate. The calculation shows that cooling in ambient air ensures cooling rate sufficient for crystallization.
