Fig. 3: Structural characterization, manipulation, and cross-material effectiveness of SAAL.

a Holoview 3D refractive index imaging of SAAL-produced anisotropic, sheet-like amorphous structures. b Bright field microscopic image and cross-polarized image of SAAL-produced amorphous structures in the XY and XZ planes. Scale bars: 2 μm. c HRTEM imaging of the amorphization phase-transition interface at the boundary of the SAAL-produced amorphous structures. Insets: fast Fourier transform (FFT) images of the dotted areas. d Birefringence intensity as a function of pulse energy under different SAAL processing modes. e Orientation manipulation of SAAL-induced amorphous units by using anisotropic energy sources. Scale bar: 5 μm. f Feature size manipulation of SAAL-induced amorphous units by tuning silt width and pulse energy. g Optical microscopic images of amorphous units produced by Gaussian and slit-shaped laser spots (upper) and SEM image of an amorphous unit (lower). Scale bars: 10 μm. h Aspect ratio comparison of amorphous units produced by Gaussian and slit-shaped laser spots. i Cross-material effectiveness of SAAL. All presented amorphous units are induced by a Gaussian-typed beam spot. Scale bars: 5 μm