TY - JOUR A1 - Bonse, Jörn A1 - Rosenfeld, A. A1 - Krüger, Jörg T1 - On the role of surface plasmon polaritons in the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures upon irradiation of silicon by femtosecond-laser pulses N2 - The formation of nearly wavelength-sized laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSSs) on single-crystalline silicon upon irradiation with single or multiple femtosecond-laser pulses (pulse duration τ=130 fs and central wavelength λ=800 nm) in air is studied experimentally and theoretically. In our theoretical approach, we model the LIPSS formation by combining the generally accepted first-principles theory of Sipe and co-workers with a Drude model in order to account for transient intrapulse changes in the optical properties of the material due to the excitation of a dense electron-hole plasma. Our results are capable to explain quantitatively the spatial periods of the LIPSSs being somewhat smaller than the laser wavelength, their orientation perpendicular to the laser beam polarization, and their characteristic fluence dependence. Moreover, evidence is presented that surface plasmon polaritons play a dominant role during the initial stage of near-wavelength-sized periodic surface structures in femtosecond-laser irradiated silicon, and it is demonstrated that these LIPSSs can be formed in silicon upon irradiation by single femtosecond-laser pulses. KW - Ab initio calculations KW - Elemental semiconductors KW - High-speed optical techniques KW - Laser beam effects KW - Polaritons KW - Silicon KW - Solid-state plasma KW - Surface plasmons KW - Surface structure PY - 2009 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3261734 SN - 0021-8979 SN - 1089-7550 VL - 106 IS - 10 SP - 104910-1 - 104910-5 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville, NY AN - OPUS4-20453 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -