High performance micromachining of sapphire by laser induced plasma assisted ablation(LIPAA)using GHz burst mode femtosecond pulses

GHz burst-mode femtosecond(fs)laser,which emits a series of pulse trains with extremely short intervals of several hundred picoseconds,provides distinct characteristics in materials processing as compared with the conventional irradiation scheme of fs laser(single-pulse mode).In this paper,we take advantage of the moderate pulse interval of 205 ps(4.88 GHz)in the burst pulse for high-quality and high-efficiency micromachining of single crystalline sapphire by laser induced plasma assisted ablation(LIPAA).Specifically,the preceding pulses in the burst generate plasma by ablation of copper placed behind the sapphire substrate,which interacts with the subsequent pulses to induce ablation at the rear surface of sapphire substrates.As a result,not only the ablation quality but also the ablation efficiency and the fabrication resolution are greatly improved compared to the other schemes including single-pulse mode fs laser direct ablation,single-pulse mode fs-LIPAA,and nanosecond-LIPAA.

Decarbonization and Decolorization of Large Sapphire Crystals Grown by the Temperature Gradient Technique

A crystalline sapphire （Al2O3） boule （Ф10 × 80mm^3） grown by the temperature gradient technique （TGT） is a bit colored due to carbon volatilization from the graphite heater at high temperatures and the absorption of transitional metal inclusions in the raw material. The sapphire becomes colorless and transparent after decolorization and decarbonization in successive annealings in air and hydrogen at high temperatures. The quality, optical transmissivity,and homogeneity of the sapphire are remarkably improved.

Operation of Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser in the non-soliton regime

A Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti：sapphire laser operating in a non-soliton regime is demonstrated. Dispersive wave generation is observed as a result of third order dispersion in the vicinity of zero dispersion. The characteristics of the Ti：sapphire l^ser operating in a positive dispersion regime are presented, where the oscillator directly generates pulses with duration continuously tunable from 0.37 ps to 2.11 ps, and 36 fs pulses are achieved atter extracavity compression. The oscillation is numerically simulated with an extended nonlinear Schr6dinger equation, and the simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results.

An all-solid-state high power quasi-continuous-wave tunable dual-wavelength Ti：sapphire laser system using birefringence filter

This paper describes a tunable dual-wavelength Ti：sapphire laser system with quasi-continuous-wave and high-power outputs. In the design of the laser, it adopts a frequency-doubled Nd：YAG laser as the pumping source, and the birefringence filter as the tuning element. Tunable dual-wavelength outputs with one wavelength range from 700 nm to 756.5 nm, another from 830 nm to 900mn have been demonstrated. With a pump power of 23 W at 532 nm, a repetition rate of 7 kHz and a pulse width of 47.6 ns, an output power of 5.1 W at 744.8 nm and 860.9 nm with a pulse width of 13.2 ns and a line width of 3 nm has been obtained, it indicates an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 22.2%.

Preparation of Non-spherical Colloidal Silica Nanoparticle and Its Application on Chemical Mechanical Polishing of Sapphire

Non-spherical colloidal silica nanoparticle was prepared by a simple new method, and its particle size distribution and shape morphology were characterized by dynamic light scattering(DLS) and the Focus Ion Beam(FIB) system. This kind of novel colloidal silica particles can be well used in chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) of sapphire wafer surface. And the polishing test proves that non-spherical colloidal silica slurry shows much higher material removal rate(MRR) with higher coefficient of friction(COF) when compared to traditional large spherical colloidal silica slurry with particle size 80 nm by DLS. Besides, sapphire wafer polished by non-spherical abrasive also has a good surface roughness of 0.460 6 nm. Therefore, non-spherical colloidal silica has shown great potential in the CMP field because of its higher MRR and better surface roughness.

Anisotropic brittle-ductile transition of monocrystalline sapphire during orthogonal cutting and nanoindentation experiments

Single-crystal sapphire is utilized as a high-performance engineering material,especially in extreme and harsh environments.However,due to its extreme hardness and brittleness,the machinability of sapphire is still a challenge.By means of nanoindentation and plunge-cut experiments,the anisotropic brittle-ductile transition of the prismatic M-plane and rhombohedral R-plane is examined by analyzing crack morphologies and the critical depth-of-cut(CDC).The experimental results of the nanoindentation tests are correlated to the plunge-cut experiment.Both the prism plane and the rhombohedral crystal plane exhibit a two-fold symmetry of ductility with various crack patterns along the machined grooves.The direction-dependent plasticity of the hexagonal sapphire crystal is mainly connected to a twinning process accompanied by slip dislocation.

Improving InGaN-LED performance by optimizing the patterned sapphire substrate shape

The epitaxial growths of GaN films and GaN-based LEDs on various patterned sapphire substrates （PSSes） with different values of fill factor （f） and slanted angle （0） are investigated in detail. The threading dislocation （TD） density is lower in the film grown on the PSS with a smaller fill factor, resulting in a higher internal quantum efficiency （IQE）. Also the ability of the LED to withstand the electrostatic discharge （ESD） increases as the fill factor decreases. The illumination output power of the LED is affected by both 0 and f. It is found that the illumination output power of the LED grown on the PSS with a lower production of tan 0 and f is higher than that with a higher production of tan 0 and f.

Study on Inclusions in Large Sapphire Optical Crystal Grown by SAPMAC Method

The sapphire （Al2O3） single crystal is a kind of excellent infrared transmission window materials. A large-sized sapphire （Ф225 mm×205 mm, 27.5 kg） was grown by SAPMAC method （sapphire growth technique with micro-pulling and shoulder-expanding at cooled center）. Several kinds of inclusion in the large sapphire crystal were investigated by means of an optical microscopy （OM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and electron probe microanalysis （EPMA）. The experimental results show that most inclusions are consisted of solid metallic and non-metallic particles as well as gas pores caused by the impurity of alumina as the raw material, the thermal dissociation of aluminum oxide melt and the reaction of the melt to the crucible material （Mo） at high temperatures. It is also found that in different crystal regions the inclusions are of varied sizes, morphology and chemical compositions. Finally, the measures to reduce and eliminate the inclusions are proposed to improve the crystal quality.

Dislocation Analysis for Large-sized Sapphire Single Crystal Grown by SAPMAC Method

In this paper, large-sized sapphire （Φ230×210 mm, 27.5 kg） was grown by SAPMAC method （sapphire growth technique with micro-pulling and shoulder-expanding at the cooled center）. Dislocation peculiarity in large sapphire boule （0001） basal plane was investigated by chemical etchiing, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray topography method. The triangular dislocation etch pit measured is 7.6× 10^1-8.0×10^2 cm^2, in which relative high-density dislocations were generated at both initial and final stages of crystal growth. The analysis of single-crystal X-ray topography shows that there are no apparent sub-grain boundaries; the dislocation lines are isolated and straight. Finally, the origins of low-density dislocation in sapphire crystal are discussed by numerical analysis method.

Deposition and properties of highly c-oriented of InN films on sapphire substrates with ECR-plasma-enhanced MOCVD

InN films with highly c-axis preferred orientation were deposited on sapphire substrate by low-temperature electron cyclotron resonance plasma-enhanced metal organic chemical vapor deposition (ECR-PEMOCVD). Trimethyl indium (TMIn) and N 2 were applied as precursors of In and N, respectively. The quality of as-grown InN films were systematically investigated as a function of TMIn fluxes by means of reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results show that the dense and uniform InN films with highly c-axis preferred orientation are successfully achieved on sapphire substrates under optimized TMIn flux of 0.8 ml min 1 . The InN films reported here will provide various opportunities for the development of high efficiency and high-performance semiconductor devices based on InN material.

Wavefront evolution of the signal beam in Ti:sapphire chirped pulse amplifier

We studied the evolution of wavefront aberration(WFA) of a signal beam during amplification in a Ti:sapphire chirped pulse amplification(CPA) system. The results verified that the WFA of the amplified laser beam has little relation with the change of the pump beam energies. Transverse parasitic lasing that might occur in CPA hardly affects the wavefront of the signal beam. Thermal effects were also considered in this study, and the results show that the thermal effect cumulated in multiple amplification processes also has no obvious influence on the wavefront of the signal beam for a single-shot frequency. The results presented in this paper confirmed experimentally that the amplification in a Ti:sapphire CPA system has little impact on the WFA of the signal beam and it is very helpful for wavefront correction of single-shot PW and multi-PW laser systems based on Ti:sapphire.

Ionization behavior and dynamics of picosecond laser filamentation in sapphire

Currently,laser-induced structural modifications in optical materials have been an active field of research.In this paper,we reported structural modifications in the bulk of sapphire due to picosecond(ps)laser filamentation and analyzed the ionization dynamics of the filamentation.Numerical simulations uncovered that the high-intensity ps laser pulses generate plasma through multi-photon and avalanche ionizations that leads to the creation of two distinct types of structural changes in the material.The experimental bulk modifications consist of a void like structures surrounded by cracks which are followed by a submicrometer filamentary track.By increasing laser energy,the length of the damage and filamentary track appeared to increase.In addition,the transverse diameter of the damage zone increased due to the electron plasma produced by avalanche ionizations,but no increase in the filamentary zone diameter was observed with increasing laser energy.

A High-Pulse-Energy High-Beam-Quality Tunable Ti:Sapphire Laser Using a Prism-Dispersion Cavity

A high-pulse-energy high-beam-quality tunable Ti：sapphire laser pumped by a frequency-doubled Nd：YAG laser is demonstrated. Using a fused-silica prism as the dispersion element, a tuning range of 740-855 nm is obtained. At an incident pump energy of 774mJ, the maximum output energy of 104mJ at 790nm with a pulse width of 100μs is achieved at a repetition rate of 5 Hz. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest pulse energy at 790 nm with pulse width of hundred micro-seconds for an all-solid-state laser. The linewidth of output is 0.5 nm, and the beam quality factor M2 is 1.16. The high-pulse-energy high-beam-quality tunable Ti：sapphire laser in the range of 740-855 nm can be used to establish a more accurate and consistent absolute scale of second-order optical-nonlinear coefficients for KBe2BO3F2 measured in a wider wavelength range and to assess Miller＇s rule quantitatively.

Preparation and Properties of Sapphire by Edge-defined Film-fed Growth(EFG) Method with Different Growth Directions

Sapphire, belonging to hexagonal crystal system, is typically anisotropic which makes it direction-sensitive. To research the effects of growth directions on properties of sapphire, c-[0001] seed（c-sapphire） and a-[11-20] seed（a-sapphire） were used to prepare sapphire by edge-defined film-fed growth（EFG） method. The samples were analyzed through lattice integrity, dislocation and corrosion performance by double-crystal XRD, OM, AFM, SEM and EDX. It was shown that the lattice integrities of two growth-direction crystals were both well due to the small FWHM values. While the average densities of dislocation in c-sapphire and a-sapphire were 9.2×103 and 3.9×103 cm-2 respectively, the energy of dislocation in c-sapphire was lower than that in a-sapphire. During Strong Phosphoric Acid（SPA） etching, the surface of c-sapphire basically kept smooth but in a-sapphire there were many point-like corrosion pits where aluminum and oxygen atoms lost by 2：1. Our work means that it will be promising for growing c-[0001] seed sapphire by EFG if aided by parameter optimization.

Effect of Shouldering Angle on Distribution of Thermal Stress in Sapphire Single Crystal Growth Using Improved Kyropoulos

A two-dimensional model was established in the rectangular co-ordinate to study the thermal stress in the sapphire single crystal grown by the improved Kyropoulos. In the simulation, the distribution, the maximum and minimum values of the thermal stress were calculated. In addition, the relationship between the thermal stress and the shouldering angles was obtained that for lower shouldering angles, the maximum of the thermal stress value is lower and the minimum value is higher. It indicates that the distribution of the thermal stress can be improved by decreasing the shouldering angles of the crystal during the growth process. To evaluate the model, the experiment was carried out and the results are in good agreement with the calculation.

Kerr-Lens Effect and Mode Locking in Ring Cavity Ti:Sapphire Laser

This paper presents the results of our numerical shnulation,ma.de by employing Splitstep Fourier Method,of pulsewidth dependence on the physical quantities in ring cavity Ti:sapphire laser.It is revealed through the computed results that Kerr-lens effect which is now quantitatively considered plays a doniniaiit role in forming ultra.short pulses and its interaction with dispersion fina.lly determines the duration of the pulse,which sheds light on further theoretical investigation of the mode locking niechanisju.Meanwhile,the self-consistent results also provide a giuc/eiine for the experimental alignment of the laser.

Pulsed Laser Deposition of VO_(2)Single Crystal Thin Films on Sapphire Substrates

Thin films of VO_(2)single-crystalline on(0001)sapphire substrates have been prepared by visible pulsed laser ablation technique.The crystal quality and properties of the films are evaluated through electrical resistance measurement,x-ray diffraction(XRD),and Rutherford-backscattering spectroscopy/channeling(RBS/C)analysis.The dependence of the surface electrical resistance of the films on the temperature shows semiconductor-to-metal transitions with the resistance change of 7×10^(3)-2×10^(4).The hysteresis widths are from less than 1 to 3 K.XRD and RBS/C data reveal that the films prepared in particular conditions are single-crystalline VO_(2)with the(010)planes parallel to the surface of the sapphire substrate.

Machine Learning Application for Prediction of Sapphire Crystals Defects

We investigate the impact of different numbers of positive and negative examples on machine learning for sapphire crystals defects prediction. We obtain the models of crystal growth parameters influence on the sapphire crystal growth. For example, these models allow predicting the defects that occur due to local overcooling of crucible walls in the thermal node leading to the accelerated crystal growth. We also develop the prediction models for obtaining the crystal weight, blocks, cracks, bubbles formation, and total defect characteristics. The models were trained on all data sets and later tested for generalization on testing sets, which did not overlap the training set.During training and testing, we find the recall and precision of prediction, and analyze the correlation among the features. The results have shown that the precision of the neural network method for predicting defects formed by local overcooling of the crucible reached 0.94.

Influence of relative positions between RF coil and crucible on sapphire crystals by edge-defined film-fed growth(EFG) technique

To obtain the stable temperature field required for growing sapphire crystals, the influence of relative positions between RF coil and crucible on the performances of sapphires produced by edge-defined film-fed growth（EFG） technique was investigated. For comparison, the crucible was located at the top（case A） and the middle（case B） of the RF coil, respectively. Furthermore, the lattice integrities were studied by the double-crystal X-ray diffraction, and the dislocations were observed under the optical microscope and atomic force microscope after corroding in molten KOH at 390 ℃. The crystals in case B exhibit better lattice integrity with smaller full width at half maximum of 29.13 rad·s, while the value in case A is 45.17 rad·s. The morphologies of dislocation etch pits in both cases show typical triangular symmetry with smooth surfaces. However, the dislocation density of 2.8×104 cm-2 in case B is only half of that in case A, and the distribution is more uniform, compared to the U-shaper in case A.

Spatial chirp in Ti：sapphire multipass amplifier

The spatial chirp generated in the Ti：sapphire multipass amplifier is numerically investigated based on the one- dimensional （1D） and two-dimensional （2D） Frantz-Nodvik equations. The simulation indicates that the spatial chirp is induced by the spatially inhomogeneous gain, and it can be almost eliminated by utilization of proper beam profiles and spot sizes of the signal and pump pulses, for example, the pump pulse has a top-hatted beam profile and the signal pulse has a super-Gaussian beam profile with a relatively larger spot size. In this way, a clear understanding of spatial chirp mechanisms in the Ti：sapphire multipass amplifier is proposed, therefore we can effectively almost eliminate the spatial chirp and improve the beam quality of a high-power Ti：sapphire chirped pulse amplifier system.