ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the first level of irradiation, which leads to the formation of ripples. It summarizes that research results toward controlling and tuning of the ripples induced on semiconductor surfaces by irradiating the material with temporally shaped laser pulses in order to obtain materials with application-based optical properties. The chapter discusses the fundamental understanding of the physical processes that are involved during the interaction of the laser beam with the surface and lead to the formation of ripples from the ultrafast to the ns temporal domain. It also discusses the laser-irradiated Silicon and Zinc oxide surfaces. The chapter examines the evolution of the irradiated spot morphology with an increasing irradiation level, the result of the irradiation of the Silicon surface by just one laser shot. It demonstrates the application of temporally shaped femtosecond laser pulses in the micro-/nanostructuring of semiconductor surfaces.
