An In-situ Transmission X-ray Microscope to Observe the Dewetting Process of Au Thin Films induced by Nanosecond Pulsed Laser Irradiation

摘要： We coupled an in-situ transmission X-ray microscope (TXM) with a Nd:YAG pulsed laser with a 532-nm wavelength and a 6-ns pulse width. This system was employed to investigate the photo-induced morphological evolution in Au thin films during shot-by-shot irradiation by a single laser pulse. Based on results for Au thin films with thicknesses of 10 and 20 nm, we successfully demonstrated the in-situ TXM system to be a powerful tool for imaging the photo-induced transition from metal thin films to metal nanoparticles. We also found that the sequence of steps leading to this transition depended critically on the thickness of the Au films.