Vol.:(0123456789) Optical and Quantum Electronics ( 2020) 52:113 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-020-2231-z 1 3 Laser cleaning of archaeologically corroded iron objects with inlays D. S. Prokuratov 1,2  · A. S. Davtian 3  · O. S. Vereshchagin 4  · N. S. Kurganov 5,6  · A. A. Samokhvalov 3  · D. V. Pankin 7  · A. V. Povolotckaia 7  · A. A. Shimko 7  · A. A. Mikhailova 7  · P. A. Somov 8  · V. A. Parfenov 2 Received: 23 October 2019 / Accepted: 27 January 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020 Abstract The paper presents the results of research investigating the possibility of applying laser cleaning for controlled layer-by-layer removal of iron corrosion from gilded silver foil on a medieval nomad’s belt pad. Lasers irradiated at the wavelengths of 355, 532, 1064 nm, 2.97, 10.6 μm were tested. A comparison of pulse durations of 100 μs, 100, 8, 6 ns, 75 ps, 100 fs were conducted. Corrosion samples were irradiated in various media: air, argon atmosphere, water, ethanol, engine oil, glycerin. In all of these cases removing of mate- rial occurred, but it was accompanied by surface blackening due the burnt organics and to thermal transformation of the goethite and lepidocrocite into magnetite. The best results from the point of view of achieving delicate cleaning and minimal conversion of goethite to magnetite were obtained by the Ti:Sa laser with a 100 fs pulse duration. This article is part of the Topical Collection on Fundamentals of Laser Assisted Micro- & Nanotechnologies. Guest edited by Tigran Vartanyan, Vadim Veiko, Andrey Belikov and Eugene Avrutin. * D. S. Prokuratov denis.prokuratov@gmail.com 1 The State Hermitage Museum, Saint-Petersburg, Russia 190000 2 Department of Photonics, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, Saint-Petersburg, Russia 197376 3 Faculty of Laser Photonics and Optoelectronics, ITMO University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia 197101 4 Mineralogical Department, Institute of Earth Sciences, Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia 199034 5 Conservation Department, Faculty of Arts, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia 199034 6 Institute of the History of Material Culture, RAS, Saint-Petersburg, Russia 191186 7 Center for Optical and Laser Materials Research, Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia 199034 8 TESCAN Ltd, Saint-Petersburg, Russia 195220