Glass surface modification using Nd:YAG laser in SF6 atmospheres

Glass surface modification is one of the processeswhich changes its physical properties. Changingoptical property is a significant effect of surface modification.Among the surface modification methods, lasersurface modification is attractive for researchers. Here,SiO2 glass target was irradiated by Q-switched Nd:YAGlaser (1064 nm) in SF6 atmospheres as well as vacuum. Inthis process, an Nd:YAG laser beam was focused near theglass target while the target was inserted in a chambercontaining SF6 atmosphere or at vacuum condition. Thesurface morphology changes were investigated by scanningelectron microscopy (SEM). Noticeable surface changeswere observed due to laser irradiation in SF6 atmosphere.Although the absorption lines of SF6 molecule are not nearthe Nd:YAG laser wavelength, laser-induced breakdownspectroscopy (LIBS) showed decomposition of SF6 moleculesnear a glass target. The ablated fragments from thetarget impacted on gas molecules and decomposed them. Inthis work, LIBS showed that there were several fluorineions when the target was irradiated in an SF(6) atmosphere.This demonstrates SF6 molecule decomposition near theglass target by laser irradiation. The plasma temperaturewas ῀2000 K. This temperature is much less than metallicor other gaseous materials’ plasma temperatures.