Photothermal displacement detection and transient imaging of bump growth dynamics in laser zone texturing of Ni–P disk substrates

Abstract

A novel photothermal displacement method has been applied to probe the pulsed laser-induced feature formation of Ni–P hard disk substrates in the laser zone texturing process. The deflection signals of the reflected probing beam show the variation of the feature shape resulting from different pulse energies of the heating laser beam. A laser flash photography system is also developed to visualize the feature growth dynamics. This system has nanosecond time resolution and about one micron spatial resolution. Both techniques show clearly the transient melting and deformation process and the time scale of such deformation. © 1999, American Institute of Physics. All rights reserved.