Dear Colleagues,

We are planning a Special Issue of the journal Nanomaterials that may be of interest to you. As Guest Editor, I cordially invite you to submit a manuscript for consideration and possible publication in this Special Issue, entitled “Pulsed Laser Deposited Nanostructures”.

In this Special Issue, the aim is to cover all relevant aspects of laser processing in thin film deposition, nanostructures, nanomaterials, and nanocomposites. Accordingly, this Special Issue welcomes original research and review manuscripts on the challenges and trends covering fundamental and experimental research—from the development of new experimental concepts to the transfer, chemical transformation, high-resolution patterning of advanced nanomaterials to the design and fabrication of devices, applications in catalysis, ecology, and environmental protection.

Dr. Cǎtǎlin Constantinescu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• laser processing
• nanostructures
• nanomaterials
• thin films
• multilayers
• nanocomposites

Title: MnZn Soft Ferrite Thin Films Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition for Applications in High Frequency Planar Transformers and Inductors
Authors: Cătălin-Daniel Constantinescu; Lucian PETRESCU; Maria-Cătălina PETRESCU; Alexandre BOULLE
Affiliation: LP3/UMR CNRS 7341, Marseille, France
Abstract: Ceramic magnetic materials thin film-based microdevices have tremendous potential for the design and fabrication of cost-efficient integrated circuits and/or electronic devices whereas the use of current silicon technologies can be prohibitively costly, or for applications where single-use devices are required. MnZn type soft magnetic ferrite is considered here, in the form of laser-processed thin films grown on MgO single-crystal substrates with various surface orientations, i.e. (100), (111), and (110). The controlled properties of the MnZn soft magnetic films are of paramount importance in high frequency applications. First, the morphological, structural, and chemical composition of the material are presented and discussed. The surface morphology, the crystalline properties of the films, and the substrate–thin-film interface are investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), respectively. The results reveal that hetero-epitaxial thin films with different crystallographic orientation and notable atomic scale smooth surface are obtained. From the XRD analysis, the following epitaxial relations are obtained: (1) (100)MnZn||(100)MgO out-of-plane and [001]MnZn||[001]MgO in-plane for MnZn grown on MgO(100), (2) (110)MnZn||(110)MgO out-of-plane and [1-10]Mn||[1-10]MgO in-plane for MnZn grown on MgO(110), and (3) (111)MnZn||(111)MgO out-of-plane and two variants for in-plane orientation [1-10]MnZn||[1-10]MgO and [1-10]MnZn||[10-1]MgO, respectively, for MnZn grown on MgO(111). It was observed that the (100)- and (110)-oriented films exhibit mosaicities of ~ 1° and lattice distortions of ~ 1% which can be explained by the larger surface energy of these planes as compared to (111). Such materials are representative in planar inductor and transformer cores due to their typically low losses at high frequency, i.e., up to several MHz, in low-to-medium power applications and providing high efficiency of up to 97%–99%. Keywords: Laser processing, thin film, soft magnetic ferrite, atomic force microscopy, planar transformer

Title: Short-Pulse Lasers: A Versatile Tool to Design Nano-/Micro-Platforms for Biomedical Applications
Authors: Ahmed Al-Kattan; David Grojo; Christophe Drouet; Alexandros Mouskeftaras; Adrien Casanova; Patricia Alloncle; Adrian Bercea; Catalin Constantinescu; Jörg Herman
Affiliation: 1 Aix Marseille University, CNRS, LP3 UMR 7341, Campus de LuminyTh, Case 917,13288, Marseille cedex 9, France; ahmed.al-kattan@univ-amu.fr; david.grojo@univ-amu.fr; mouskeftaras@lp3.univ-mrs.fr; adrien.casanova@univ-amu.fr; patricia.alloncle@univ-amu.fr; hermann@lp3.univ-mrs.fr 2 CIRIMAT Carnot Institute, UMR CNRS/INPT/UPS 5085, University of Toulouse, Ensiacet, 4 allée E. Monso, 31030 Toulouse cedex 4, France, christophe.drouet@cirimat.fr 3 University of Limoges, CNRS, IRCER UMR 7315, 12 rue Atlantis, F-87000 Limoges, France, adrian.bercea@unilim.fr, catalin.constantinescu@unilim.fr 4 INFLPR - National Institute for Lasers, Plasma, and Radiation Physics, Bd. Atomistilor nr. 409, RO-077125 Magurele, Bucharest, Romania, adrian.bercea@inflpr.ro
Abstract: Driven by flexibility, precision, repeatability, cost-efficiency and eco-friendliness, laser-based technologies have attracted great interest to engineer materials with unique physicochemical properties for healthcare applications including biomedicine and tissue engineering. Contact-free laser material processing make also possible to work in liquid or gaseous environment with a large panel of materials such as ceramics, metals and polymers. This leads to unique possibilities for multifaceted approaches in order to design, fabricate and even to analyze bio-systems. To illustrate this potential, we gather in this paper our recent findings on four laser-induced methods relevant for bio-applications: First, we present and discuss on the pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL), exploited today in designing ultraclean “bare” nanoparticles required for medicine or sensing applications. Second, the microsphere-assisted laser surface engineering (MALSE), representing a simple yet highly flexible method to design structured substrates with hierarchically-periodic pattern at nano/micro scale without chemical treatments. Third, the laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT), a technology based on direct laser printing to transfer and assemble a multitude of materials, including biological moiety without alteration of functionality. Finally, we present the potential of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), providing a unique tool for contact-free and space resolved elemental analysis of organic materials. In all, we present and discuss on the potential and complementarity of emerging reliable laser technologies to address the material science challenges relevant for the development of innovative platforms for healthcare applications.

Title: Rare-Earth Magnets, from Bulk to Thin Film and Nanostructures: History, Perspective and Prospects
Authors: Lucian-Gabriel PETRESCU; Maria-Catalina PETRESCU; Emil CAZACU; Catalin-Daniel CONSTANTINESCU
Affiliation: (1) Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University “POLITEHNICA” of Bucharest, 313 Splaiul Independentei, RO-060042 Bucharest, Romania; (2) LP3 - UMR 7341, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, F-13009 Marseille, France
Abstract: Will come soon...

Title: Synthesis, Structural Studies and Optical Nonlinear Response of Some Aromatic Thioamides
Authors: Maria MARINESCU; Iulian IONITA; Adrian BERCEA; Ludmila Otilia CINTEZĂ; Irina ZARAFU; Andreea MATEI; Cătălin-Daniel CONSTANTINESCU
Affiliation: LP3/UMR CNRS 7341, Marseille, France
Abstract: Nearly all of today's optoelectronic applications involve at least one effect from nonlinear optics. Here, we present results on new, laboratory synthesized aromatic thioamides. Thin films with controlled thickness are deposited by matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE), on quartz and silicon substrates, with the aim of evaluating the nonlinear optical properties for potential optoelectronic applications. Dimethyl sulfoxide was used as matrix, with 1% wt. concentration of the guest compound. The frozen target is irradiated by using a Nd:YAG laser (4ω/266 nm, 7 ns pulse duration, 10 Hz repetition rate), at low fluences ranging from 0.1 to 1 J/cm2. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to probe the surface morphology of the films. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy reveal similar structure of the thin film material when compared to the starting material. The optical properties of the thin films are investigated by spectroscopic-ellipsometry (SE), and the refractive index dependence with respect to temperature is studied. The second harmonic generation (SHG) potential is assessed by using a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser (800 nm, 60–100 fs pulse duration, 80 MHz repetition rate), at 200 mW maximum output power, revealing that the SHG signal intensity is strongly influenced by the films’ thickness. An understanding of these effects combines the classical theory of light with the quantum nature of the energy levels of the host material. Keywords: Laser processing, aromatic thioamides, chemical synthesis, thin films, second harmonic generation, spectroscopic-ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, density functional theory.