Evolution of femtosecond laser-induced periodic structures: from nanoholes to regular structures

Femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures have opened broad prospects in the aspect of high-efficient and low-cost nanotextured patterning, yet defined great challenges on how to keep the periodicity in a macro area. Herein, we report a transition from non-periodicity to periodicity as the scan strategies changing. By suppressing the transition from the initial structures to the nanogratings with long-range order, arbitrary high-resolution direct writing patterns have been obtained in a large area. We attribute this phenomenon to the dynamic evolution of the near-field energy deposition around the pre-existing structures. This approach paves another way to high-precision laser processing.