Structure modifications in silicon irradiated by ultra-short pulses of XUV free electron laser

Structural modifications of solid Si (0 0 1) targets exposed to the XUV TESLA free electron laser radiation were studied. The samples were irradiated with the photon energy centered at 14 eV, in short pulses of only 80 fs and of peak power up to 1 GW. The FEL beam was focused on sample surfaces to microspots of size 10-100 μm. The energy density in the spots varied from below the ablation threshold up to far above this threshold. The structural modifications induced with the irradiation were studied by AFM, Nomarski contrast microscopy and by X-ray diffraction methods. A variety of morphological structures created in the damaged areas was found. The maps of the X-ray diffracted intensity distribution recorded around chosen spots on the Si surface made it possible to probe the damage distribution range around the spots. The observed features are related to the FEL irradiation fluencies applied