Fabrication of complex nanostructures on ZnO crystals by the interference of three femtosecond laser beams

By adjusting the laser polarization combinations, fluences and pulse numbers, we fabricated several types of two-dimensional (2D) complex nanostructures on the surface of c-cut ZnO single crystal by the interference of three femtosecond laser beams with central wavelength of 800 nm, pulse duration of 50 fs and pulse repetition frequency of 1 kHz. The hexagonal 2D nanostructures with a period of 600 nm are very regular and uniform, in which nanoparticles, nanorings and nanoripples with sizes of 200 nm are embedded. Excited by 800 nm femtosecond laser pulses, the photoluminescence (PL) micrographs reveal that the 2D nanostructures can emit purer and brighter blue light compared with the plane surface. These nanostructures have potential applications in blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), high density optical storage and other optoelectronic devices.