Fabrication of microstructure on C/SiC surface via femtosecond laser diffraction

•C/SiC was processed by femtosecond laser with a wavelength of 800 nm.•The effect of femtosecond laser diffraction on the processed morphology was studied.•A regular multileveled concentric ring structure was fabricated on C/SiC.•Femtosecond laser diffraction can be applied to surface polishing of C/SiC. A femtosecond pulsed laser was used to perform a processing study on carbon-fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) composites. The effect of femtosecond laser diffraction on the processed morphology was studied by simulation and experiments. Using the diffraction of femtosecond laser, a regular multileveled concentric ring structure was fabricated on the surface of C/SiC composites, and controllable morphology and size could be achieved by changing the processing parameters such as amount of defocus, power, and number of pulses. The results indicate that the spot energy distribution generated by the femtosecond laser diffraction is more uniform than Gaussian beam; therefore, femtosecond laser diffraction can be applied to surface polishing of C/SiC composites.