Glass surface modification using Nd:YAG laser in SF6 atmospheres

Abstract

Glass surface modification is one of the processes which changes its physical properties. Changing optical property is a significant effect of surface modification. Among the surface modification methods, laser surface modification is attractive for researchers. Here, SiO2 glass target was irradiated by Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) in SF6 atmospheres as well as vacuum. In this process, an Nd:YAG laser beam was focused near the glass target while the target was inserted in a chamber containing SF6 atmosphere or at vacuum condition. The surface morphology changes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Noticeable surface changes were observed due to laser irradiation in SF6 atmosphere. Although the absorption lines of SF6 molecule are not near the Nd:YAG laser wavelength, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) showed decomposition of SF6 molecules near a glass target. The ablated fragments from the target impacted on gas molecules and decomposed them. In this work, LIBS showed that there were several fluorine ions when the target was irradiated in an SF6 atmosphere. This demonstrates SF6 molecule decomposition near the glass target by laser irradiation. The plasma temperature was ~2000 K. This temperature is much less than metallic or other gaseous materials’ plasma temperatures.