Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structures on Layered GaSe Crystals: Structural Coloring and Infrared Antireflection

• Published in: The journal of physical chemistry letters 2023-10, Vol.14 (41), p.9357-9364
• Main Authors: Gurbatov, S. O., Borodaenko, Yu. M., Mitsai, E. V., Modin, E., Zhizhchenko, A. Yu, Cherepakhin, A. B., Shevlyagin, A. V., Syubaev, S. A., Porfirev, A. P., Khonina, S. N., Yelisseyev, A. P., Lobanov, S. I., Isaenko, L. I., Gurevich, E. L., Kuchmizhak, A. A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Physical Insights into Light Interacting with Matter
• ISSN: 1948-7185; 1948-7185
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02547

We study structural and morphological transformations caused by multipulse femtosecond-laser exposure of Bridgman-grown ϵ-phase GaSe crystals, a van der Waals semiconductor promising for nonlinear optics and optoelectronics. We unveil, for the first time, the laser-driven self-organization regimes in GaSe allowing the formation of regular laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSSs) that originate from interference of the incident radiation and interface surface plasmon waves. LIPSSs formation causes transformation of the near-surface layer to amorphous Ga2Se3 at negligible oxidation levels, evidenced from comprehensive structural characterization. LIPSSs imprinted on both output crystal facets provide a 1.2-fold increase of the near-IR transmittance, while the ability to control local periodicity by processing parameters enables multilevel structural color marking of the crystal surface. Our studies highlight direct fs-laser patterning as a multipurpose application-ready technology for precise nanostructuring of promising van der Waals semiconductors, whose layered structure restricts application of common nanofabrication approaches.