Low-power pulsed-laser annealing of the damaged surface layer of chemomechanically polished CdS

We report on the laser-induced recrystallization of the shallow surface disorder in a CdS sample during chemomechanical polishing. The role of the incident photon energy, with respect to the band gap energy of CdS, in the lattice structural evolution during irradiation has been determined. Our results indicate that a disordered-to-monocrystalline phase transition, without surface damage, occurs when low-power pulsed-laser annealing (LPPLA) is performed with a laser photon energy higher than the band gap energy of CdS.