Interaction of soft X-ray laser pulse radiation with aluminum surface; Nano-meter size surface modification

Ishino, Masahiko; Faenov, A.*; Tanaka, Momoko; Hasegawa, Noboru; Nishikino, Masaharu; Tamotsu, Satoshi*; Pikuz, S.*; Inogamov, N. A.*; Zhakhovsky, V. V.*; Skobelev, I.*; Fortov, V. E.*; Khohlov, V. A.*; Shepelev, V. V.*; Oba, Toshiyuki*; Kaihori, Takeshi; Ochi, Yoshihiro; Imazono, Takashi; Kawachi, Tetsuya

We irradiated the focusing soft X-ray laser pulses having a wavelength of 13.9 nm and the duration of 7 ps to aluminum surface. After the irradiation process, the irradiated surface was observed with a scanning electron microscope. The surface modifications caused by soft X-ray laser single pulse exposure were clearly seen. In addition, it was found that the conical structures having around 100 nm in diameters were formed in the shallow features. The nano-meter size modified surface structures on aluminum induced by the soft X-ray laser pulse is interesting as the newly surface structure. Hence, the soft X-ray laser beam would be a candidate for a tool of micromachining. We also provide a thermomechanical modeling of the soft X-ray laser interaction with aluminum briefly to explain the surface modification.