Polarization sensitive anisotropic structuring of silicon by ultrashort light pulses

Imprinting of anisotropic structures on the silicon surface by double pulse femtosecond laser irradiation is demonstrated. The origin of the polarization-induced anisotropy is explained in terms of interaction of linearly polarized second pulse with the wavelength-sized symmetric crater-shaped structure generated by the linearly polarized first pulse. A wavefront sensor is fabricated by imprinting an array of micro-craters. Polarization controlled anisotropy of the structures can be also explored for data storage applications.