Fabrication of microlens arrays in photosensitive glass by femtosecond laser direct writing

This article reports the fabrication of high-fill-factor plano-convex cylindrical and spherical microlens arrays horizontally and vertically embedded in a photosensitive Foturan glass chip by femtosecond (fs) laser micromachining. The microlens arrays were fabricated by modifying the microstructure of Foturan glass using fs laser direct writing followed by thermal treatment, wet etching, and additional annealing. The focusing ability and image quality of the microlens arrays were examined, showing that the lens arrays not only can focus light well but also provide an imaging capability that holds great potential for lab-on-a-chip applications.     

Nd:YAG waveguide laser with 1.3 W output power, fabricated by direct femtosecond laser writing

Tracks of modified material were written with femtosecond-laser pulses in neodymium-doped YAG crystals. Due to a stress-induced change of the refractive index, waveguiding beside the tracks and between two adjacent tracks with a distance of approximately 25 μm was observed. Loss measurements resulted in guiding losses of about 1.6 dB/cm for the double track waveguide. Spectroscopic investigations of the ⁴ F _3/2→⁴ F _11/2 transmission lines of the neodymium ions, which are close to the modified region, revealed a small stress-induced red shift of the lines. Laser oscillation of single-track waveguides and double-track waveguides was demonstrated with Ti:Sapphire laser pumping at a wavelength of 808 nm. Best laser performance with about 1.3 W output power at 2.25 W launched pump power was achieved using a double-track waveguide with a separation of 27 μm at an outcoupling transmission of 95%.     

Fabrication of integrated microchip for optical sensing by femtosecond laser direct writing of Foturan glass

By the one-continuous fabrication procedure of hollow microstructures using femtosecond (fs) laser direct writing followed by thermal treatment, successive chemical wet etching and additional annealing, three-dimensional integration of microoptics with microfluidics, i.e., a planoconvex microlens with a microfluidic chamber, in a single Foturan glass chip was achieved. Further integration of an optical waveguide was performed through internal refractive index modification by fs laser direct writing after the fabrication of the microlens and the microchamber. An “all-in-one” microchip that is highly effective for on-chip photonic biosensing can be manufactured by the present technique with easy assembly of each microcomponent and without any cumbersome processes for stacking and joining substrates. Experimental demonstration of photonic biosensing using the integrated microchip has revealed that fluorescence analysis and absorption measurement of liquid samples can be performed with efficiencies enhanced by factors of 8 and 3, respectively.     

Influence of scanning velocity on femtosecond laser direct writing lines on FOTURAN glass

Lines are induced on the surface of a photosensitive(FOTURAN)glass by focused femtosecond laser transverse writing with scanning velocity in a wide range of 40-1800μm/s.The formed lines are analyzed using scanning electron microscope(SEM)and optical microscope(OM).It is observed that three distinct morphologies of lines are produced depending on the scanning velocity.Lines written in low velocity level (40-100μm/s)and high velocity level(1000-1800μm/s)are uniform and regular,while those written in moderate velocity level(150-600μm/s)are rough.The influence of scanning velocity is explained based on different pulses overlapping or cumulative dose of laser exposure in irradiated area.Fabrication of shallow groove on the surface is also demonstrated.     

Femtosecond laser direct writing of TiO2 crystalline patterns in glass

Crystalline TiO₂ was induced three dimensionally inside a glass sample by 800-nm, 250-kHz femtosecond laser irradiation. Micro-Raman spectra and X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the laser-induced crystals were monophase TiO₂ rutile. A periodic structure consisting of TiO₂ rutile crystalline lines was inscribed in the glass sample by continuously moving the focal point of the laser beam. This technique may be useful for fabricating integrated optical devices in glasses.     

Fabrication of quasi-periodic micro-voids in fused silica by single femtosecond laser pulse

We demonstrate that quasi-periodic void structure can be self-formed in transparent materials by single femtosecond laser pulse. Compared to the multiple-pulse induced structures, the single-pulse induced void structures are very short and may contain absent voids. The formation mechanisms have been discussed comparatively in detail. Based on this, a technique for high-speed and large-area fabrication of micro-void arrays in transparent materials has been presented. The experimental results show that 3D micro-void structures which contain over several hundred thousand voids in micrometer scales are produced in areas of square millimeters within a few minutes, and the periods of micro-void structures can be easily varied by processing parameters. This work has potential applications in 3D optical storage, photonic crystal and integrated optics, and provides novel insight into the interaction between the single femtosecond pulse and the transparent materials.     

Surface characteristics of SiO_2-TiO_2 strip fabricated by laser direct writing

SiO_2-TiO_2 sol-gel films are deposited on SiO_2/Si by dip-coating technique.The SiO_2-TiO_2 strips are fabricated by laser direct writing using an ytterbium fiber laser and followed by chemical etching.Surface structures,morphologies and roughness of the films and strips are characterized.The experimental results demonstrate that the SiO_2-TiO_2 sol-gel film is loose in structure and a shrinkage concave groove forms if the film is irradiated by laser beam.The surface roughness of both non-irradiated and laser irradiated areas increases with the chemical etching time.But the roughness of laser irradiated area increases more than that of non-irradiated area under the same etching time.After being etched for 28 s,the surface roughness value of the laser irradiated area increases from 0.3 nm to 3.1 nm.     

Photoinduced multiple microchannels inside silicon produced by a femtosecond laser

Photoinduced multiple microchannels in the interior of silicon produced by an 800-nm femtosecond laser were observed. The multiple microchannels were aligned spontaneously with a period along the propagation direction of the laser beam, which could be attributed to the interface spherical aberration induced due to refractive-index mismatch. We also observed that the depth of the photoinduced microchannels increased with the increase of the laser power. The power dependence of the depth of photoinduced microchannels in silicon was different from that in transparent materials, which probably arose from the competition between self-focusing due to the nonlinear Kerr effect and self-defocusing related to the thermal accumulation in the process of laser irradiation.     

Fabrication of micro/nano crystalline ITO structures by femtosecond laser pulses

A method is proposed for the fabrication of micro/nano crystalline indium tin oxide (c-ITO) structures using a Ti:Sapphire laser with a repetition rate of 1 kHz and a wavelength of 800 nm. In the proposed approach, an amorphous ITO (a-ITO) thin film is transformed into a c-ITO micro/nano structure over a predetermined area via laser beam irradiation, and the residual a-ITO thin film is then removed using an etchant solution. The fabricated c-ITO structures are observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The observation results show that the use of a low repetition rate laser induces a high thermal cycling effect within the ITO film and therefore prompts the formation of micro-cracks in the c-ITO structure. In addition, it is shown that as the laser power approaches the ablation threshold of the a-ITO thin film, nanogratings and disordered nanostructures are formed along the center lines of the c-ITO patterns formed using linearly polarized and circularly polarized laser beam irradiation, respectively. The nanogratings are found to have a period of approximately 200 nm (i.e. one-quarter of the irradiation wavelength), while the nanostructures have an average diameter of approximately 100–160 nm.     

Investigation of laser diode face-pumped high average power heat capacity laser

The three-dimensional (3D) pump intensity distribution in medium of the laser diode (LD) pumped high average power heat capacity laser is simulated by the ray tracing method, and the divergence characteristics of fast axis and slow axis of LD are simultaneously considered. The transient 3D temperature and stress distributions are also simulated by the finite element method (FEM) with considering the uneven heat source distribution in medium. A LD face-pumped Nd:GGG heat capacity laser is designed. The average output power is 1.49 kW with an optical-optical efficiency of 24.1%.     

Three-dimension direct writing TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> crystalline patterns in Bi-free glass using femtosecond laser

Crystalline TiO₂ was induced three dimensionally inside Bi-free glass sample by an 800 nm, 250-kHz femtosecond laser irradiation. Micro-Raman spectra analysis indicated that the laser-induced crystals in the focal point of the laser beam were monophase TiO₂ rutile. Continuous crystalline lines were written through moving the focal point of the laser beam inside the glass. The results demonstrate that this technique is a convenient method to engrave three-dimensional patterns of crystals for fabricating integrated optical devices in transparent materials.     

Self-organized periodic surface structures on ZnO induced by femtosecond laser

Self-organized periodic surface structures on ZnO have been observed after multiple linearly polarized femtosecond laser pulse irradiation. The observed self-organized structures are attributed to the second harmonics in the sample surface excited by the incident laser. The grating orientation could be adjusted by the laser polarization direction. We also find that fluences play an important role in the formation of self-organized nanostructures.     

Rapid fabrication of optical volume gratings in Foturan glass by femtosecond laser micromachining

We report on rapid fabrication of optical volume gratings in Foturan glass using a modulated femtosecond laser focused with cylindrical lenses. An optical volume grating with an area of 2 mm ×3 mm and ∼2 mm thickness can be achieved within 10 min by use of this method. Optical micrography confirms the volume nature of the gratings and shows that they consist of 10 μm-thickness planes with a period of 15 μm. The diffraction efficiency is examined to be ∼56%. The limitations and future implementations of the fabricated volume gratings are discussed.     

Parallel ripple formation during femtosecond laser grooving of ceramic

The self-organized formation of ripples in the direction parallel to the groove during the femtosecond laser machining of microgrooves on aluminum nitride ceramic at laser fluences much higher than the single-pulse ablation threshold is reported. These parallel ripples are notably different from the commonly observed polarization-perpendicular ripples and are produced in grooves having an appropriate width and depth, irrespective of laser polarization. From subsequent experiments with narrow and wide groove widths, it could be considered that the groove walls play an important role in the formation of these parallel ripples, possibly by confining the laser-induced plasma.     

Microdrilling of metals using femtosecond laser pulses and high average powers at 515 nm and 1030 nm

We investigate the microdrilling of metals (stainless steel, copper and tungsten) for two different wavelengths, 1030 nm and 515 nm, in the regime of femtosecond laser pulses. An ytterbium-doped fibre CPA system provides high pulse energies (up to 70 μJ) and high repetition rates (up to 800 kHz), corresponding to high average powers of about 50 W, for this experimental study.     

Wavelength-independent all-optical synchronization of a Q-switched 100-ps microchip laser to a femtosecond laser reference source

We present a Q-switched microchip laser emitting 1064-nm pulses as short as 100 ps synchronized to a cavity dumped femtosecond laser emitting 800-nm pulses as short as 80 fs. The synchronization is achieved by presaturating the saturable absorber of the microchip laser with femtosecond pulses even though both lasers emit at widely separated wavelengths. The mean timing jitter is 40 ps and thus considerably shorter than the pulse duration of the microchip laser.     

X-ray diffraction from the ripple structures created by femtosecond laser pulses

In this paper, we present the investigation and characterization of the laser-induced surface structure on an asymmetrically cut InSb crystal. We describe diffraction from the ripple surface and present a theoretical model that can be used to simulate X-ray energy scans. The asymmetrically cut InSb sample was irradiated with short-pulse radiation centred at 800 nm, with fluences ranging from 10 to 80 mJ/cm². The irradiated sample surface profile was investigated using optical and atomic force microscopy. We have investigated how laser-induced ripples influence the possibility of studying repetitive melting of solids using X-ray diffraction. The main effects arise from variations in local asymmetry angles, which reduce the attenuation length and increase the X-ray diffraction efficiency.     

Cross-sectional study of femtosecond laser bulk modification of crystalline α-quartz

Bulk irradiation of crystalline α-quartz was performed with ∼170-fs laser pulses with a wavelength of 800 nm focused below the sample surface. Investigations were carried out using transmission electron microscopy on a cross-sectional specimen prepared using focused ion beam techniques. We observed alternating amorphous–crystalline structures with sharp transitions and associated density changes, surrounded by a highly strained crystalline structure. The alternating sub-surface structures are parallel to the laser’s electric field polarization and exhibit a spacing which is close to the laser wavelength in air. Cracking was also observed in the near proximity of these structures.     

Dielectric function dynamics during femtosecond laser excitation of bulk ZnO

Using a broad band dual-angle pump-probe reflectometry technique, we obtained the ultrafast dielectric function dynamics of bulk ZnO under femtosecond laser excitation. We determined that multiphoton absorption of the 800-nm femtosecond laser excitation creates a large population of excited carriers with excess energy. Screening of the Coulomb interaction by the excited free carriers causes damping of the exciton resonance and renormalization of the band gap causing broadband (2.3–3.5 eV) changes in the dielectric function of ZnO. From the dielectric function, many transient material properties, such as the index of refraction of ZnO under excitation, can be determined to optimize ZnO-based devices.