• Buividas, Ričardas
• Mizeikis, Vygantas
• Cowie, Bruce C. C.
• Buividas, Ricardas
• Vailionis, Arturas
• Tadich, Anton
• Juodkazis, Saulius
• Rode, Andrei V.
• De Ligny, Dominique
• Gervinskas, Gediminas
• Gamaly, Eugene
• Gamaly, Eugene G.
• Ligny, Dominique De

Abstract

<p>We show that micro-explosions generated by tightly focused single pulses of a femtosecond laser in olivine have produced change of iron valence state. Chemical and structural changes were investigated using synchrotron X-ray spectroscopy, and Raman scattering. Near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra from laser-affected zone of olivine crystal indicate a modified chemical bonding and a possible formation of regions containing a new crystalline phases of iron. Raman scattering from the laser-affected zone regions reveals loss of crystalline order and formation of a mixture of nano-crystallites due to melting and re-solidification of olivine. These results indicate that spatial separation between ions of different mass occurs in hot, highly excited olivine. The present study confirms that this mechanism may present a general pathway toward creation of novel crystalline and amorphous nano-materials using fs laser-induced confined micro-explosions. Near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectra from laser-affected olivine show that micro-explosion generated by a femtosecond pulse produces change of iron valence state. This result indicates that spatial separation between ions of different mass occurs in hot, highly excited olivine. This mechanism presents a pathway toward new nano-materials.</p>

Topics

• amorphous
• phase
• crystalline phase
• iron
• solidification
• near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy