Optical and Structural Phenomena at Multipulse Interference Femtosecond Laser Fabrication of Metasurfaces on a Thin Film of Amorphous Silicon

The formation of hexagonal microarrays of nanoholes (metasurfaces) in a 50-nm hydrogenated amorphous silicon film by means of three-beam interference of femtosecond laser pulses of the visible range (wavelength 515 nm) is studied experimentally with various exposures of the film. Characterization of arrays by scanning electron and optical microscopy, as well as optical transmission and reflection microspectroscopy, shows that an increase in the number of fixed energy laser pulses leads to a gradual evaporative formation of nanoholes in the film and, overall, the metasurface. Raman microspectroscopy reveals a simultaneous growth of the volume content of the crystal phase.