Recording, erasing, and rewriting of ripples on metal surfaces by ultrashort laser pulses.

Recording, erasing, and rewriting of ripples are achieved by applying femtosecond laser pulses on tungsten surfaces. Ripples oriented perpendicular to the polarization direction of the writing beam can be recorded on a metal surface by exposing the sample to a series of linearly polarized pulses. When applying the second series of pulses with varied polarization direction on the same place, the original ripples can be erased, and new ripples are rewritten with the orientation perpendicular to the polarization of the second group of pulses. The simulation shows that when original ripples exist, laser intensity is focused above the grooves with polarization parallel to original ripples, which can erase the ripples. However, when the polarization is perpendicular to the existing ripples, laser intensity is almost confined in the grooves, which accelerates the formation of ripples.