Growth of ZnO nanostructures by femtosecond laser irradiation of polycrystalline targets

The formation of LIPSS upon irradiation with ultrashort laser pulses on the surface of polycrystalline ZnO samples and the potential use of irradiated areas as growth patterns for the production of highly ordered nanostructures upon redeposition have been studied. For this purpose, we have performed different sets of irradiation experiments including static irradiation experiments at low and high repetition rates, as well as scanned beam experiments at high repetition rate, this later in order to generate relatively large template regions for nanostructure growth by redeposition. In all cases, LIPSS formation has been achieved in the ZnO polycrystalline surface. Under appropriate irradiation conditions, the material is redeposited rendering a high density of nanostructures with high aspect ratios and good crystal quality. Given the special luminescent properties and applications of ZnO, particular attention has been paid to the luminescence properties after irradiation and after post-irradiation thermal treatments. The observed evolution has been correlated with evolution of point defects in the treated surfaces. Thermal treatments cause significant changes in both the topography and the cathodoluminescent emission, such as the development of laminar structures, the emergence of nucleation centers and the recovery of ultraviolet emission previously quenched as a consequence of irradiation. Interestingly, LIPSS remain after the luminescent recovery by thermal annealing, opening the possibility to control both luminescence properties and grain size while maintaining an ordered structure with a high effective surface area.