PubCard - A novel approach towards robust construction of physical colors on lithium niobate crystal

(Peer-Reviewed) A novel approach towards robust construction of physical colors on lithium niobate crystal

Quanxin Yang 杨全鑫 ¹ ², Menghan Yu 于梦涵 ¹, Zhixiang Chen 陈志翔 ³, Siwen Ai 艾斯文 ¹, Ulrich Kentsch ⁴, Shengqiang Zhou 周生强 ⁴, Yuechen Jia 贾曰辰 ³ ⁵, Feng Chen 陈峰 ³, Hongliang Liu 刘洪亮 ¹ ⁶ ⁷

¹ Institute of Modern Optics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
中国天津南开大学现代光学研究所
² Hangzhou Institute of Technology, Xidian University, Hangzhou 311231, China
中国杭州西安电子科技大学杭州研究院
³ School of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
中国济南山东大学物理学院晶体材料国家重点实验室
⁴ Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, Dresden 01328, Germany
⁵ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
中国南京南京大学固体微结构物理国家重点实验室
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
中国杭州浙江大学流体动力基础件与机电系统全国重点实验室
⁷ Tianjin Key Laboratory of Micro-scale Optical Information Science and Technology, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
中国天津南开大学天津市微尺度光学信息技术科学重点实验室

Opto-Electronic Advances, 2025-01-22

https://doi.org/10.29026/oea.2025.240193

https://www.oejournal.org/article/doi/10.29026/oea.2025.240193

Abstract

Controlling the construction of physical colors on the surfaces of transparent dielectric crystals is crucial for surface coloration and anti-counterfeiting applications. In this study, we present a novel approach to creating stable physical colors on the surface of lithium niobate crystals by combining gold ion implantation with laser direct writing technologies.

The interaction between the laser, the implanted gold nanoparticles, and the crystal lattice induces permanent, localized modifications on the crystal surface. By fine-tuning the laser direct writing parameters, we reshaped the gold nanoparticles into spheres of varying sizes on the crystal surface, resulting in the display of red, green, blue, and pale-yellow colors.

We investigated the influence of the implanted Au nanoparticles—particularly their localized surface plasmon resonances—on the modifications of the lithium niobate crystal lattice during the laser writing process using confocal Raman spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.

Our findings reveal that the embedded Au nanoparticles play a pivotal role in altering the conventional light-matter interaction between the crystal lattice and the laser, thereby facilitating the generation of surface colors. This work opens new avenues for the development of vibrant surface colors on transparent dielectric crystals.