Writing nanopores on a ZnS crystal with ultrafast Bessel beams

Zinc sulfide (ZnS) crystal is one of the important materials used to make the wide-spectrum infrared window. The ultrafast laser technology for manufacturing the nanopores with high aspect ratio provides an important approach to fabricate the photonic devices such as mid-infrared waveguide Fourier transform spectrometer etc. In this paper, a 40-times-demagnification ultrafast laser direct-writing system was built with a 4f system and a Gaussian-Bessel beam generated by a quartz axicon and a Yb:KGW laser source that operated at a wavelength of 1030 nm, a repetition rate of 100 kHz and a pulse width tunable from 223 fs to 20 ps. When the pulse energy was changed from 36 μJ to 63 μJ and the pulse duration was changed from 12.5 ps to 20 ps, the nanopore structure with a diameter of 80~320 nm was successfully written on the ZnS crystal. The surface morphology, diameter and depth of the nanopores were determined by FIB (Focused Ion Beams) ablation and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) imaging. The influence of laser pulse energy and pulse width on the nanopores was studied. The results show that when the pulse width is 20 ps and the pulse energy is 48 µJ, the depth of a nanopore is about 270 µm.