Demosthenes Koutsogeorgis

Abstract:

Humankind has always been fascinated by light. Besides just mesmerising us, light can also be a powerful tool for manipulating matter and its characteristics. Light is no longer limited to just a diagnostic tool for probing materials' characteristics, but has also become the engine for manipulating materials' properties. This presentation is about using light in order to manipulate matter and its characteristics. A 20 year journey at Nottingham Trent University will be presented, exploring the powerful transformations that light can create in matter and the subsequent permanent changes in characteristics that can be induced. Laser annealing is presented as a viable alternative to conventional thermal annealing, enabling the use of temperature sensitive substrates without any loss in the effectiveness of a high temperature treatment. A highly localised and ultra rapid thermal treatment is achieved, targeting the material of choice only and with minimal influence onto the surrounding materials. In many cases, the desired treatment can be delivered to the targeted materials under the surface of covering layers. Examples will be presented were laser annealing has made possible the treatment of thin films for effective dopant activation, control of crystalline structure, fabrication of plasmonic nanoparticles on or under the surface of dielectrics, photo conversion of sol-gel precursors to oxides of high quality.