Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2015) 130: 165
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2015-15165-6

Regular Article

Patterning of silica MCM-41 high-order material on a glass surface by XeCl laser irradiation

Laser and Optics Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

^* e-mail: panahi.spb@gmail.com

Received: 9 February 2015
Revised: 15 July 2015
Accepted: 29 July 2015
Published online: 20 August 2015

Abstract

Silica glass samples (with the compositions of SiO₂ 96.66, Na₂O 0.62, MgO 0.80, Al₂O₃ 1.66 and CaO 0.26 in wt%) were irradiated with 5 pulses of a nanosecond XeCl excimer laser at a fluence of 300mJ/cm² and 1Hz repetition rate. Scanning electron microscopy images of the irradiated area showed that micro and nanostructures were developed on the glass surface by the XeCl laser irradiation. It is found from energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis and micro-Raman spectroscopy that the structures are fine crystalline patterns of silica MCM-41 materials. It is supposed that crystallization of the glass is induced through the absorption of 308nm wavelength XeCl laser irradiation by silicon ions. Therefore, it is proposed that this method of spatially selective crystallization of glass could be applicable to other glass materials for potential optics and photonics applications.