Tuning the optical reflection property of metal surfaces via micro–nano particle structures fabricated by ultrafast laser

Optical functional surfaces are key components of nearly every optical device and they have become a special focus in both academia and industry. The no contact, one step, direct, and maskless laser surface texturing technique is one of the most encouraging approaches for realizing the surface functions. We use a high power and high repetition rate ultrafast laser system to produce micro–nano structures on metal surfaces. We demonstrate that metal surface micro–nano structures and correspondingly their optical responses can be facilely tailored by simple controlling the ultrafast laser processing parameters. Nano particles of tens to hundreds nm, sub-micro particles of 0.5–1 μm, fine-micro particles of 1–10 μm, micro particles of 10–50 μm, and coarse-micro particles larger than 50 μm have been fabricated on Cu surfaces. And surface reflection of copper surfaces has been tuned from 10% to 90% in spectra level and from UV to MIR in spectrum range, with unique optical properties like visible selective reflection, linear changing reflection, band reflection, and broadband absorption being achieved. The formation processes of those particle structures as well as the underlying mechanisms for their optical responses are discussed.