Effect of Laser Irradiation on the Optical Properties of Diamond-Like Carbon

Magnetron sputtered diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were irradiated by cw CO₂ laser. It was found that the laser irradiation increased the visible absorption, decreased the optical gap of DLC and decreased lightly the infrared transmittance. The absorption curves of the as-deposited and the irradiated films indicated that the irradiation decreased the hydrogen content and the sp³ hybrid structure and altered the absorption mode of C-CH₃.