Femtosecond Bessel laser beam induced concentric rings on SiC for circular symmetry wide-viewing angle structural color

Abstract

The laser-induced structural coloring technique holds significant potential for various applications due to its precision, controllability, and versatility across different materials. However, laser-induced structural colors face the problems of durability, homogeneity and indistinguishability, which are not conducive to their application as large-scale identifiable markers. In this paper, an innovative approach has been developed to achieve a circular-symmetric structural color display on durable SiC surfaces by fabricating periodic concentric ring structure arrays using the sidelobe light field of a femtosecond zero-order Bessel beam. The research involved a systematic study of the effects of laser power and pulse number on SiC, along with a detailed analysis of the micro-nanostructures evolving on the SiC surface after laser scanning. Additionally, an examination of the characteristics of circular-symmetric structural color displays and their wide viewing angles in periodic circular structures was conducted. Finally, a comparison was made between the structural color display effects of a concentric ring structure generated by a single pulse and the Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS) generated by three pulses. This comparison underscores the potential application of alternating between the high saturation color of the concentric ring structure and the low saturation dark light of the LIPSS for anti-counterfeit coding purposes. The findings of this research present promising opportunities for low-cost mass manufacturing in anti-counterfeit labeling and the advanced processing of photonic devices using SiC.