Direct laser writing has become a versatile and routine tool for the mask‐free fabrication of polymer structures with lateral linewidths down to less than 100 nm. In contrast to its planar counterpart, electron‐beam lithography, direct laser writing also allows for the making of three‐dimensional structures. However, its spatial resolution has been restricted by diffraction. Clearly, linewidths and resolutions on the scale of few tens of nanometers and below are highly desirable for various applications in nanotechnology. In visible‐light far‐field fluorescence microscopy, the concept of stimulated emission depletion (STED) introduced in 1994 has led to spectacular record resolutions down to 5.6 nm in 2009. This review addresses approaches aiming at translating this success in optical microscopy to optical lithography. After explaining basic principles and limitations, possible depletion mechanisms and recent lithography experiments by various groups are summarized. Today, Abbe's diffraction barrier as well as the generalized two‐photon Sparrow criterion have been broken in far‐field optical lithography. For further future progress in resolution, the development of novel tailored photoresists in combination with attractive laser sources is of utmost importance. 相似文献
The design of micro‐optical resonator arrays are introduced and tailored towards refractive index sensing applications, building on the previously unexplored benefits of open dielectric stacks. The resonant coupling of identical hollow cavities present strong and narrow spectral resonance bands beyond that available with a single Fabry Perot interferometer. Femtosecond laser irradiation with selective chemical etching is applied to precisely fabricate stacked and waveguide‐coupled open resonators into fused silica, taking advantage of small 12 nm rms surface roughness made available by the self‐alignment of nanograting planes. Refractive index sensing of methanol‐water solutions confirm a very attractive sensing resolution of 6.5 × 10−5 RIU. Such high finesse optical elements open a new realm of optofluidic sensing and integrated optical circuit concepts for detecting minute changes in sample properties against a control solution that may find importance in chemical and biological sensors, telecom sensing networks, biomedical probes, and low‐cost health care products.
Multi scale hierarchical structures underpin mechanical, optical, and wettability behavior in nature. Here we present a novel approach which can be used to mimic the natural hierarchical patterns in a quick and easy maskless fabrication. By using two‐beam interference lithography with angle‐multiplexed exposures and scanning, we have successfully printed large‐area complex structures having a cascading resolution and 3D surface profiles. By precisely controlling the exposure dose we have demonstrated a capability to create different 3D textured surfaces having comparable aspect ratio with period spanning from 4 μm to 300 nm (more than one order of magnitude) and the height spanning from 0.9 μm to 40 nm, respectively. Up to three levels of biomimetic hierarchical structures were obtained that show several natural phenomena: superhydrophobicity, iridescence, directionality of reflectivity, and polarization at different colors.
Nanosheets of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3), a topological insulator material that exhibits broadband saturable absorption due to its non‐trivial Dirac‐cone like energy structure, are utilized to generate short pulses from Tm:ZBLAN waveguide lasers. By depositing multiple layers of a carefully prepared Bi2Te3 solution onto a glass substrate, the modulation depth and the saturation intensity of the fabricated devices can be controlled and optimized. This approach enables the realization of saturable absorbers that feature a modulation depth of 13% and a saturation intensity of 997 kW/cm2. For the first time to our knowledge, Q‐switched mode‐locked operation of a linearly polarized mid‐IR ZBLAN waveguide chip laser was realized in an extended cavity configuration using the topological insulator Bi2Te3. The maximum average output power of the laser is 16.3 mW and the Q‐switched and mode‐locked repetition rates are 44 kHz and 436 MHz, respectively. 相似文献
True three‐dimensionally (3D) integrated biochips are crucial for realizing high performance biochemical analysis and cell engineering, which remain ultimate challenges. In this paper, a new method termed hybrid femtosecond laser microfabrication which consists of successive subtractive (femtosecond laser‐assisted wet etching of glass) and additive (two‐photon polymerization of polymer) 3D microprocessing was proposed for realizing 3D “ship‐in‐a‐bottle” microchip. Such novel microchips were fabricated by integrating various 3D polymer micro/nanostructures into flexible 3D glass microfluidic channels. The high quality of microchips was ensured by quantitatively investigating the experimental processes containing “line‐to‐line” scanning mode, improved annealing temperature (645°C), increased prebaking time (18 h for 1mm‐length channel), optimal laser power (1.9 times larger than that on the surface) and longer developing time (6 times larger). The ship‐in‐a‐bottle biochips show high capabilities to provide simultaneous filtering and mixing with 87% efficiency in a shorter distance and on‐chip synthesis of ZnO microflower particles. 相似文献