Fabricating a regular hexagonal lattice structure by interference pattern of six femtosecond laser beams

Interference of six countering femtosecond (fs) laser beams at a wavelength of 785 nm has been utilized to fabricate nanostructures in a regular hexagonal lattice. A diffractive-optical element for six-beam splitting was introduced to a beam correlation system. The lattice structure was in accordance with the simulated structure based on the principle of superposition of electric fields. The unit structures fabricated on gold thin films were nanobit, nanodrop, and metallic hole array. The height and diameter of a representative nanodrop were 450 and 210 nm, respectively. Molten structures such as nanodrops are believed to have been fabricated via a solid-liquid-solid (SLS) mechanism, as in the case of previous experiments using four beams. In addition, multi-shot processing is examined to fabricate through-holes at lower fluences.