Abstract

During laser irradiation near the melt threshold, silicon and silicon films phase separate forming intricate patterns of crystalline and molten regions. The instabilities responsible for this remarkable breaking of the translational symmetry of the surface have been previously shown to arise due to the coupling of the radiation field to the surface morphology.¹ While the initial symmetry breaking is now well understood for pulsed radiation, the development of morphology in the case of cw laser Irradiation depends on the complex interactions between the melt dynamics and the coherent radiation field. The ultimate steady state of this system exhibits a rich variety of surface morphologies.

© 1986 Optical Society of America