Real three-dimensional microstructures fabricated by photopolymerization of resins through two-photon absorption

Effective energy windows for two-photon absorption (TPA) photopolymerization of resins were investigated and, with a properly selected laser pulse energy, exquisite three-dimensional (3D) microstructures with submicrometer spatial resolution were achieved. The results show the inherent utility of TPA in the fabrication of real 3D patterns. In particular, we propose and utilize a resin pre-exposure technique by which freely movable components affixed to an axle are built, demonstrating a new application of TPA in laser microfabrication.     

Self-grown fiber fabrication by two-photon photopolymerization

We demonstrate a new fiber growth mechanism in a photocurable resin by ultrafast laser illumination. A high-repetition rate (∼1 MHz) ultrafast laser beam at the wavelength of ∼523 nm was focused into an ultraviolet photocurable resin to trigger two-photon photopolymerization process. Time-resolved shadowgraphs and scattered light imaging revealed that the curing commenced in the neighborhood of the geometric focal point of the laser beam and that the fiber growth progressed mostly towards the laser source. The cured fiber was thinner and longer than the profile of the focused laser beam, facilitated by nonlinear propagation and absorption of the ultra-fast laser beam. The achieved aspect ratio of the fiber was higher than 180 with ∼10 μm mean diameter, and the average growth rate was up to ∼2 mm/s.     

Near-infrared photonic crystals with higher-order bandgaps generated by two-photon photopolymerization

Three-dimensional photonic crystals with bandgaps of 1.5-2.3 mum in wavelength and with gap/midgap ratios of as much as 18% were generated efficiently by two-photon photopolymerization in a liquid resin. From 0.5-1.1-mW femtosecond-pulsed 540-nm light, woodpile structures consisting of 40 layers of elliptically shaped rods spaced at 350-500 nm were fabricated by focusing with a 1.3-N.A. objective. The high degree of correlation in these structures allowed the suppression of infrared transmission by as much as 50% as well as the observation of higher-order bandgaps. We also investigated the decrease in the gap wavelength on reduction of layer spacing, in-plane rod spacing, and rod size.     

Fast solvent-driven micropump fabricated by two-photon microfabrication

A solvent-driven micropump was developed using three-dimensional two-photon microfabrication. The actuation of micropump is utilizing the bending behavior of hydrogel film under asymmetric solvent-stimulus. The micropump could absorb and discharge fluid reversibly by simply alternating solvent composition. Contributing to the thin hydrogel film with the thickness of 2.5 μm, the response time was significantly improved to 0.17 s. The discharge capacity of fluid was estimated to be as low as 9.2×10⁻² pL. The pumping of such ultra-low-volume fluid will be useful for further miniaturization of micro-nanofluidic devices.     

Three-dimensional photonic crystals containing designed defects achieved with two-photon photopolymerization

Two-photon photopolymerization （TPP） with femtosecond laser is a promising method to fabricate threedimensional （3D） photonic crystals （PCs）. Based on the TPP principle, the micro-fabrication system has been built. The 3D woodpile PCs with rod space of 2000 nm are fabricated easily and different defects are introduced in order to form the cross-waveguide and the micro-laser structure PCs. Simulation results of the optical field intensity distributions using finite-difference time domain （FDTD） method are given, which support the designs and implementation of the PC of two types in theory.     

Dammann gratings as integratable micro-optical elements created by laser micronanofabrication via two-photon photopolymerization

Dammann gratings, as beam splitters and coherent signal generators, were produced in a short fabricating cycle by femtosecond laser fabrication via two-photon photopolymerization. These holograms that each generated 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, and 6x6 spot sources in the fan-out demonstrated diffraction efficiency of 36%, 25%, 29%, 52%, and 49%, respectively, comparable with the theoretical values. This work shows the promising prospect of femtosecond laser fabrication in compatibly manufacturing various micro-optical devices including Dammann gratings and their integrated systems.     

利用离子交换技术制备跑道形波导谐振腔滤波器的研究

采用AgNO3和KNO3混和熔盐作为离子交换源,在K9玻璃上制备了跑道形波导谐振腔滤波器。利用ASE宽带光源和光谱仪对器件特性进行了测试,得到的该滤波器自由光谱范围为0.176nm。对比对Cr=4dB和3dB带宽δλ=0.13nm来说,耦合系数和传输损耗分别为к=0.9和α=3.2dB/cm。测试了环形腔的热光调相特性,在16℃的变化范围内实现了2π的相移。通过分析,波导材料的热光系数约为1.49×10-5/℃。该滤波器不仅可用于滤波、传感等领域,而且也可与其它波导结构相结合实现新的功能。     

Enhanced two-photon biosensing with double-clad photonic crystal fibers

A double-clad photonic crystal fiber was used to improve detection efficiency over a standard single-mode fiber in a two-photon fluorescence detection scheme in which the dye was excited and the fluorescence was detected back through the same fiber.     

Photochromism induced by infrared two-photon absorption

An IR laser of 940 nm wavelength induced photochromic reaction in acrylate that contained both spirobenzopyran and rare-earth doped oxide (Gd(2)O(2)S:YbEr). The rare-earth elements were excited by two 940 nm photons and emitted a 550 nm photon, which caused photochromic isomerization of spirobenzopyran. This acrylate turned to its original orange color by either thermal relaxation or ultraviolet irradiation, and was bleached again by IR laser irradiation.     

Fabricating high-aspect-ratio sub-diffraction-limit structures on silicon with two-photon photopolymerization and reactive ion etching

We fabricated sub-micrometer objects with feature sizes about one third of the exposure wavelength using two-photon photopolymerization in an epoxy-based photoresist SU-8 . Owing to the high mechanical strength of this photoresist, an aspect ratio as high as nine was achieved with a 200–300 nm lateral dimension. A simple equation was used to estimate the feature size from the laser parameters such as spot size, exposure time, pulse width, pulse repetition rate, and the material properties including the two-photon absorption coefficient and the exposure threshold dose. Patterns in SU-8 were transferred onto silicon using reactive ion etching, preserving both the feature size and aspect ratio. Vertical sidewalls of the transferred patterns were achieved using the black silicon method. PACS 42.82.Cr; 82.35.Ej; 85.40.Hp     

Polymeric PLC-type thermo-optic optical attenuator fabricated by UV imprint technique

A planar lightwave circuit-type polymer thermo-optic optical attenuator was fabricated via a UV imprint technique. In order to reduce the step for filling of cores and minimize the detrimental residual slab waveguide, convex ridge-type micro cores for guidance of light were defined with an accuracy of ±0.5 μm on the under-clad by a single step of imprinting. The voltage-controlled polymer optical attenuator showed 30-dB attenuation with 80-mW electrical input power at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. The rise and fall times are less than 5 ms. It displays about 0.2- and 1-dB polarization dependence at 0- and 10-dB attenuations, respectively.     

Coupling semiconductor lasers into single-mode optical fibers by use of tips grown by photopolymerization

We show that a polymer tip, integrated by free-radical photopolymerization at the end of a telecommunication optical fiber, allows high-efficiency coupling between the fiber and an infrared laser diode. A coupling efficiency of 70% (1.5-dB loss) was achieved. We obtained this result by controlling the radius of curvature of the tip, the origin of which is discussed in terms of the photochemical influence of oxygen during tip formation. The experimental data were found to be in agreement with results of electromagnetic calculations based on the finite-element method.     

Nuclear spin relaxation induced by a mechanical resonator

We report on measurements of the spin lifetime of nuclear spins strongly coupled to a micromechanical cantilever as used in magnetic resonance force microscopy. We find that the rotating-frame correlation time of the statistical nuclear polarization is set by the magnetomechanical noise originating from the thermal motion of the cantilever. Evidence is based on the effect of three parameters: (1) the magnetic field gradient (the coupling strength), (2) the Rabi frequency of the spins (the transition energy), and (3) the temperature of the low-frequency mechanical modes. Experimental results are compared to relaxation rates calculated from the spectral density of the magnetomechanical noise.     

Transparency induced by two-photon interference in a beam splitter

We propose a special two-photon state which is completely transparent in a 50/50 beam splitter. This effect is caused by the destructive two-photon interference and shows the signature of photon entanglement. We find that the symmetry of the two-photon spectrum plays the key role for the properties of two-photon interference.     

Coherent control of phonon-polaritons in a terahertz resonator fabricated with femtosecond laser machining

Using femtosecond laser machining, we fabricated a terahertz resonant cavity in LiNbO3. Optical pulse sequences with variable repetition rates, generated through a novel pulse-shaping method, are used for characterization of the cavity resonances and for amplification of terahertz phonon-polaritons in the cavity.     

Optimization of mechanical strength of titania fibers fabricated by direct drawing

Nanostructured polycrystalline titania (TiO₂) microfibers were produced by direct drawing from visco-elastic alkoxide precursors. The fiber crystallinity and grain size were shown to depend on post-treatment calcination temperature. Tensile tests with individual fibers showed strong sensitivity of the elastic modulus and the tensile strength to microstructural details of the fibers. The elastic modulus of as-fabricated fibers increased about 10 times after calcination at 700 ^°C, while the strain at failure remained almost the same at ～1.4 %. The highest tensile strength of more than 800 MPa was exhibited by nanoscale grained fibers with a bimodal grain size distribution consisting of rutile grains embedded into an anatase matrix. This structure is believed to have reduced the critical defect size, and thus increased the tensile strength. The resultant fibers showed properties that were appropriate for reinforcement of different matrixes.     

Polarization-dependent characteristics of a racetrack waveguide resonator fabricated by ion exchange in K9 glass

A racetrack waveguide resonator filter was fabricated by ion exchange technology in K9 optical glass.The filter responses of the waveguide resonator were measured with two polarized input lightwaves. The polarization-dependent characteristics of the waveguide resonator were analyzed, and the results of effective indices of Nte = 1.5721 and Ntm = 1.5548, coupling ratios of Rte = 0.731 and Rtm = 0.761, and losses of Αte = 4.35 Db/cm and Αtm = 6.05 Db/cm were obtained for transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes, respectively. The causes of large loss and effective index differences between TE and TM modes were discussed.     

Enhanced narrow spectral line and double electromagnetically induced two-photon transparency induced by double dark resonances

We theoretically investigate the features of two-photon absorption in a five-level atomic system with interacting dark resonances. It is found that two-photon absorption can be completely suppressed at two different frequencies due to the application of two coherent coupling fields and the atomic system exhibits double electromagnetically induced transparency windows against two-photon absorption. The position and width of the double two-photon transparency windows can be controlled via properly adjusting the frequency detuning and the intensities of the two coupling fields. In addition, one enhanced narrow central line can be observed in the two-photon absorption spectra, which may find applications in high-precision spectroscopy. Form a physical point of view, we explicitly explain these results in terms of quantum interference induced by three different two-photon excitation channels in the dressed-state picture.     

Giant enhancement of two-photon fluorescence induced by resonant double grating waveguide structures

We report a 350-fold enhancement of ultra-short-pulse-excited two-photon fluorescence (TPF) using a resonant double grating waveguide structure (DGWS). These structures show vanishing transmission and maximum reflection under resonance conditions, i.e. specific wavelength, polarisation and angular orientation of the incident light. This guided mode phenomenon is characterised by a large field enhancement inducing an enormous TPF signal of fluorescent molecules at the waveguide surface, as compared to direct non-resonant excitation. We demonstrate that high spectral acceptance for ultra-short pulses with broad spectral bandwidths can be achieved by a specifically designed DGWS, and that neither beam focussing nor high laser power is necessary for TPF excitation. Due to the high enhancement of more than two orders of magnitude, DGWS can be considered as a powerful platform for TPF applications such as biosensing and microarray technology. PACS 42.62.Be; 42.79.Dj; 42.79.Gn