Two-photon absorption spectrum of the photoinitiator Lucirin TPO-L

Two-photon absorption induced polymerization provides a powerful method for the fabrication of intricate three-dimensional microstructures. Recently, Lucirin TPO-L was shown to be a photoinitiator with several advantageous properties for two-photon induced polymerization. Here we measure the two-photon absorption cross-section spectrum of Lucirin TPO-L, which presents a maximum of 1.2 GM at 610 nm. Despite its small two-photon absorption cross-section, it is possible to fabricate excellent microstructures by two-photon polymerization due to the high polymerization quantum yield of Lucirin TPO-L. These results indicate that optimization of the two-photon absorption cross-section is not the only material parameter to be considered when searching for new photoinitiators for microfabrication via two-photon absorption. PACS 42.65.-k; 78.40.Me; 42.70.Jk; 81.05.Lg     

考虑光镊效应的飞秒激光双光子加工线宽

采用自由基浓度起伏理论结合光镊集聚效应,理论研究了飞秒激光双光子加工的线宽问题。根据双光子光聚合过程中自由基浓度随时间变化的关系,考虑光镊效应对自由基分布范围的影响,得到了飞秒激光双光子加工线宽的表达式。研究了线宽随扫描速度与激光功率的变化关系,并讨论了不同光引发剂对线宽的影响。得到了以自由基浓度起伏为基础,并考虑光镊效应的双光子加工线宽表达式,该结果与实验结果相符。研究结果为飞秒激光双光子加工的研究提供了新的思路,为光镊集聚效应对线宽影响的实验研究提供了理论依据。     

Functional polymers by two-photon 3D lithography

In the presented work, two-photon 3D lithography and selective single-photon photopolymerization in a prefabricated polydimethylsiloxane matrix is presented as an approach with potential applicability of waveguide writing in 3D by two-photon polymerization.Photopolymers based on acrylate chemistry were used in order to evaluate the optical capabilities of the available two-photon system. Several photoinitiators, tailored for two-photon absorption, were tested in a mixture of trimethylolpropane triacrylate and ethoxylated trimethylolpropane triacrylate. Best results were obtained with a recently synthesized diynone-based photoinitiator. Feature resolutions in the range of 300 nm were achieved. Due to the cross-conjugated nature of that donor-π-acceptor-π-donor system a high two-photon absorption activity was achieved. Therefore, a resin mixture containing only 0.025 wt% of photoinitiator was practical for structuring by two-photon polymerization. The required initiator content was therefore a factor of 100 lower than in traditional one-photon lithography.The aim of the second part of this work was to fabricate optical waveguides by selectively irradiating a polymer network, which was swollen by a monomer. The monomer was polymerized by conventional single-photon polymerization and the uncured monomer was removed by evaporation at elevated temperatures. This treatment leads to a local change in refractive index. Refractive index changes in the range of Δn = 0.01 (Δn/n = 0.7%) were achieved, which is sufficient for structuring waveguides for optoelectronic applications.     

Fabrication of three-dimensional photonic crystal structures containing an active nonlinear optical chromophore

Direct laser writing by two-photon polymerization of photosensitive materials has emerged as a very promising technique for rapid and flexible fabrication of photonic crystals. In this work, a photosensitive silica sol-gel containing the nonlinear optical chromophore Disperse Red 1 is synthesized, and the two-photon polymerization technique is employed to fabricate three-dimensional photonic crystals with stop-gaps in the near-infrared. The composite material exhibits minimal shrinkage during photopolymerization, eliminating the need for shrinkage compensation or the fabrication of support structures.     

飞秒激光双光子加工的极限分辨力

 采用3维压电微移动台高速扫描方式控制曝光时间与高精密转台精确控制圆形渐变衰减片以控制曝光功率两种方法,曝光时间和曝光功率可分别精确控制至0.02 ms和7 pW。通过精确控制聚合阈值附近处的曝光时间和曝光功率,分别在玻璃基板上获得了35 nm和45 nm的聚合物纳米线条,分别为所使用激光波长的1/22和1/17。实验结果表明,当曝光时间或曝光功率在加工阈值附近时,曝光时间和功率的微量减少会使聚合线宽急剧下降。     

Minimum spacing between suspended nanorods determined by stiction during two-photon polymerization

The influence of stiction on the minimum spacing between suspended nanorods fabricated by femtosecond-laser-induced two-photon polymerization has been investigated. The minimum spacing is predicted based on a theoretical model calculating the adhesion length of a nanorod pair, which is in good agreement with the experimental results for suspended nanorods with feature size of around 200 nm. This is helpful for the polymerization of three-dimensional functional nanostructures.     

Microlaser with Ramsey Separated Fields Cavity

In a novel microlaser configuration with Ramsey separated-field cavity, we investigate a two-level atomic beam interacting with a single-mode high-Q Ramsey cavity, which is composed by two separated resonators. By using the well-known Ramsey cavity, one can recover the characters of microlaser even with a high flux atomic beam.     

Solvent effects on optical properties of a newly synthesized two-photon polymerization initiator： BPYPA

Time-dependent hybrid density functional theory in combination with polarized continuum model is applied to study the solvent effects on the geometrical and electronic structures as well as one- and two-photon absorption processes, of a newly synthesized asymmetrical charge-transfer organic molecule bis-（4-bromo-phenyl）-[4-（2-pyridin-4-yl-vinyl）phenyl]-amine （BPYPA）. There exist two charge-transfer states for the compound in visible region. The two-photon absorption cross section calculated by a three-state model and solvatochromic shift of the charge-transfer states are found to be solvent-dependent, where a nonmonotonic behaviour with respect to the polarity of the solvents is observed. The numerical results show that the organic molecule exhibits a rather large two-photon absorption cross section as compared with the compound 4-trans-[p-（N, N-Di-n-butylamino）-p-stilbenyl vinyl] pyridine （DBASVP） reported previously, and is predicted to be a good two-photon polymerization initiator. The hydrogen-bond effect is analysed. The computational results are in good agreement with the measurements.     

Rapid prototyping of ossicular replacement prostheses

Materials used in ossicular replacement prostheses must demonstrate appropriate biological compatibility, acoustic transmission, stability, and stiffness properties. Prostheses prepared using Teflon^®, titanium, Ceravital and other conventional materials have demonstrated several problems, including migration, perforation of the tympanic membrane, difficulty in shaping the prostheses, and reactivity with the surrounding tissues. We have used two-photon polymerization for rapid prototyping of Ormocer^® middle-ear bone replacement prostheses. Ormocer^® surfaces fabricated using two-photon polymerization exhibited acceptable cell viability and cell growth profiles. The Ormocer^® prosthesis was able to be inserted and removed from the site of use in the frozen human head without fracture. Our results demonstrate that two-photon polymerization is able to create ossicular replacement prostheses and other medical devices with a larger range of sizes, shapes and materials than other microfabrication techniques.     

Two-photon polymerization of an epoxy-acrylate resin material system

Improved material systems are of great interest in the development of two-photon polymerization techniques for the fabrication of three dimensional micro- and nano-structures. The properties of the photosensitive resin are important in the realisation of structures with submicron dimensions. In this study investigation of a custom organic resin, cross-linked by a two-photon induced process, using a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser, is described. A structural, optical and mechanical analysis of the optimised material is presented. The influence of both material system and laser processing parameters on achievable micro-structure and size is presented as are representative structures. Parameters include: laser power, photo-initiator concentration and material composition.     

微腔激光器的发展与应用

本文探讨了微腔激光器的分类、基本原理及特点，并简单介绍了目前几种微型激光器的发展及应用。     

Coherence of a single mode InAlGaAs/InP cylinderical microlaser with two output ports

We experimentally investigate the coherence of a single mode InAlGaAs/InP cylindrical microlaser with two output waveguides. For a cylindrical microlaser with a radius of 15 μm and two 2 μm-wide output waveguides, single mode operation with a side mode suppression ratio of 30 dB is realized, and a far-field interferometric pattern similar to a Young's interferometer is observed. The results indicate that the microlasers with two output waveguides can be used as the light source for an optical sensor by monitoring the phase change of the output emission from one port versus that of the other port.     

Two-photon four-level hologram recording in poly-(alkyl-α-cyanoacrylates)

We have investigated the suitability of poly-(alkyl--cyanoacrylates) (p-(alkyl-CAc)) for two-photon four-level holographic recording. It is shown that these materials follow indeed a two-photon four-level mechanism with the second absorption step in the near infrared. Light induces the polymerization of residual monomer in the matrix. The reaction is associated with positive density changes. The sensitivity ofp-(alkyl-CAc) depends strongly on composition and age of the sample. Maximum sensitivities achieved are comparable to the so far best-known two-photon four-level ir-sensitive systems.     

Laser polymerization-based novel lift-off technique

The fabrication of microstructures by two-photon polymerization has been widely reported as a means of directly writing three-dimensional nanoscale structures. In the majority of cases a single point serial writing technique is used to form a polymer model. Single layer writing can also be used to fabricate two-dimensional patterns and we report an extension of this capability by using two-photon polymerization to form a template that can be used as a sacrificial layer for a novel lift-off process.A Ti:sapphire laser, with wavelength 795 nm, 80 MHz repetition rate, 100 fs pulse duration and an average power of 700 mW, was used to write 2D grid patterns with pitches of 0.8 and 1.0 μm in a urethane acrylate resin that was spun on to a lift-off base layer. This was overcoated with gold and the grid lifted away to leave an array of gold islands.The optical transmission properties of the gold arrays were measured and found to be in agreement with a rigorous coupled-wave analysis simulation.     

Observation of sub-poisson photon statistics in the cavity-QED microlaser

We have measured the second-order correlation function of the cavity-QED microlaser output and observed a transition from photon bunching to antibunching with increasing average number of intracavity atoms. The observed correlation times and the transition from super- to sub-Poisson photon statistics can be well described by gain-loss feedback or enhanced-reduced restoring action against fluctuations in photon number in the context of a quantum microlaser theory and a photon rate equation picture. However, the theory predicts a degree of antibunching several times larger than that observed, which may indicate the inadequacy of its treatment of atomic velocity distributions.     

Glassy nanostructures fabricated by the direct laser writing method

This paper reports on the synthesis of glassy nanostructures in which the framework is a face-centered cubic lattice of inverse yablonovite with a disordered glassy superstructure. The synthesis has been performed by the direct laser writing method based on two-photon polymerization of a photosensitive material. The fabricated structures have been investigated using scanning electron microscopy. A theoretical calculation of the photonic band structures of the direct yablonovite and the inverse yablonovite has been carried out.     

双光子聚合多次快速扫描机制与小线宽研究

采用自由基浓度起伏理论并考虑光镊集聚效应,理论研究了飞秒激光双光子聚合多次快速扫描的线宽问题。根据双光子光聚合过程中自由基浓度随时间变化的关系,考虑光镊力及自由扩散效应对自由基分布的影响,得到了多次快速扫描加工线宽的表达式。研究了多次扫描过程中产生自由基浓度随扫描次数的变化、双光子聚合加工不同扫描次数下加工线宽随激光功率的变化、多次扫描过程中间隔时间对于加工线宽的影响。多次扫描的线宽表达式可以直接回归至单次扫描的一般公式,且理论结果与文献中实验加工线宽相吻合,两者误差在2%。控制扫描间隔时间,减少自由基的向外扩散运动以及被树脂材料内大分子猝灭,使得活性自由基的分布更为集中,可以获得更小的加工线宽。研究结果为飞秒激光双光子更小线宽加工的研究提供了新的思路,为飞秒激光多次快速扫描加工提供了理论依据。     

Laser-fabricated dielectric optical components for surface plasmon polaritons

Fabrication of dielectric optical components for surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) by two-photon polymerization (2PP) is studied. This direct-write femtosecond laser technology provides a low-cost and flexible method for the fabrication and investigation of plasmonic structures and optical components. Using the 2PP technique, we fabricated narrow dielectric ridges with dimensions as small as 150 nm on metal surfaces. SPP excitation with the laser-fabricated structures and guiding along them are demonstrated.     

Femtosecond laser-induced two-photon polymerization of inorganic-organic hybrid materials for applications in photonics

Investigations of two-photon polymerization of inorganic-organic hybrid materials initiated by femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser pulses are performed. First applications of this technique for the fabrication of three-dimensional microstructures and photonic crystals in inorganic-organic hybrid polymers with a structure size down to 200 nm and a periodicity of 450 nm are discussed.     

Dielectric-loaded surface plasmon–polariton nanowaveguides fabricated by two-photon polymerization

The design, fabrication, and characterization of dielectric-loaded surface plasmon–polariton nanowave-guides on a gold film are presented. The nanostructures are produced by two-photon polymerization with femtosecond laser pulses, and the minimum ridge height is ∼170 nm. Leakage radiation microscopy shows that these surface plasmon–polariton waveguides are single mode with strong mode confinement at the wavelength of 830 nm. The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation by the effective-index method.