20 agosto 2013
Material processing at the micro/nano scales has been revolutionized by the development of femtosecond lasers. The particular way in which these lasers interact with matter allow the local modification of the physical properties of any material as well as its selective removal (ultrafast ablation) with minimal thermal or mechanical damage of the surrounding material.
The CLPU provides a micro processing station to work on a large variety of applications, namely: micromachining, production of nanoparticles, interaction with biological tissues and microsurgery, artwork restoration, fabrication of photonic elements, etc. The Centre also has incorporated the Laser induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) technique as a tool for control and diagnostic in situ the micro processing.
Although the effects of ultrafast laser ablation are well known, there are still open questions about its mechanism due to the complexity of the process. In close collaboration with the University of Salamanca, the CLPU have developed numerical codes to calculate the distribution of energy and charge deposited in the material. Thus, it is possible to predict the evolution of the ablation craters in the multi-shot regime. The theoretical studies are complemented with accurate measurements in the micro processing workstation, space and resolved spectroscopy of the ablation plume and shadowgraphy.
