Ultrafast laser direct writing and nanostructuring in transparent materials

An overview of recent achievements in the field of femtosecond laser writing in transparent materials is presented. Thanks to the unique properties of light–matter interaction on the ultrashort time scale, this direct writing technique has led to observation of unique phenomena, including nonreciprocal writing and anisotropic photosensitivity, in transparent materials and allowed engineering of novel photonic devices.

[1]  Daniel Jaque,et al.  Quantum dot enabled thermal imaging of optofluidic devices. , 2012, Lab on a chip.

[2]  A. Tünnermann,et al.  Femtosecond, picosecond and nanosecond laser ablation of solids , 1996 .

[3]  V. Niziev,et al.  Influence of beam polarization on laser cutting efficiency , 1999 .

[4]  W. Zipfel,et al.  Simultaneous spatial and temporal focusing of femtosecond pulses , 2005, (CLEO). Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2005..

[5]  M. Birnbaum.  Semiconductor Surface Damage Produced by Ruby Lasers , 1965 .

[6]  Saulius Juodkazis,et al.  Two-photon lithography of nanorods in SU-8 photoresist , 2005 .

[7]  Y. Shimotsuma,et al.  Self-organized nanogratings in glass irradiated by ultrashort light pulses. , 2003, Physical review letters.

[8]  Gerard Mourou,et al.  SHORT-PULSE LASER DAMAGE IN TRANSPARENT MATERIALS AS A FUNCTION OF PULSE DURATION , 1999 .

[9]  J. Nishii,et al.  Femtosecond laser-assisted three-dimensional microfabrication in silica. , 2001, Optics letters.

[10]  Bertrand Poumellec,et al.  In the heart of nanogratings made up during femtosecond laser irradiation , 2010 .

[11]  Gerard Mourou,et al.  Compression of amplified chirped optical pulses , 1985 .

[12]  Alexander Jesacher,et al.  Three dimensional laser microfabrication in diamond using a dual adaptive optics system. , 2011, Optics express.

[13]  Masamori Endo.  Sheet metal cutting with a 2 kW radially polarized CO2 laser , 2010, International Symposium on High Power Laser Systems and Applications.

[14]  K J Halbhuber,et al.  Intracellular nanosurgery with near infrared femtosecond laser pulses. , 1999, Cellular and molecular biology.

[15]  Satoshi Kawata,et al.  Finer features for functional microdevices , 2001, Nature.

[16]  Gerard Mourou,et al.  Machining of sub-micron holes using a femtosecond laser at 800 nm , 1995 .

[17]  David Grojo,et al.  Exciton-seeded multiphoton ionization in bulk SiO 2 , 2010 .

[18]  Kazuyoshi Itoh,et al.  Study of filamentary damage in synthesized silica induced by chirped femtosecond laser pulses , 2005 .

[19]  Brent C. Stuart,et al.  Ultrashort-pulse laser machining of dielectric materials , 1999 .

[20]  Yves Bellouard,et al.  Optical classification of algae species with a glass lab-on-a-chip. , 2012, Lab on a chip.

[21]  Koji Sugioka,et al.  Femtosecond laser processing for optofluidic fabrication. , 2012, Lab on a chip.

[22]  P. Corkum,et al.  Optically produced arrays of planar nanostructures inside fused silica. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[23]  G. Vallone,et al.  Integrated photonic quantum gates for polarization qubits , 2011, Nature communications.

[24]  P. Kazansky,et al.  Polarization diffraction grating produced by femtosecond laser nanostructuring in glass , 2010, CLEO/QELS: 2010 Laser Science to Photonic Applications.

[25]  Masaaki Sakakura,et al.  Ultrafast Manipulation of Self‐Assembled Form Birefringence in Glass , 2010, Advanced materials.

[26]  Yasuhiko Shimotsuma,et al.  Nanomodification of Glass Using fs Laser , 2013 .

[27]  Peter G. Kazansky,et al.  Radially polarized optical vortex converter created by femtosecond laser nanostructuring of glass , 2011 .

[28]  R. Taylor,et al.  Applications of femtosecond laser induced self‐organized planar nanocracks inside fused silica glass , 2008 .

[29]  Saulius Juodkazis,et al.  Intrinsic single- and multiple-pulse laser-induced damage in silicate glasses in the femtosecond-to-nanosecond region , 2004 .

[30]  D. Papazoglou,et al.  Embedded birefringent computer-generated holograms fabricated by femtosecond laser pulses. , 2006, Optics letters.

[31]  L. Keldysh,et al.  IONIZATION IN THE FIELD OF A STRONG ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE , 1964 .

[32]  Andreas Tünnermann,et al.  Laser induced nanogratings beyond fused silica - periodic nanostructures in borosilicate glasses and ULE™ , 2013 .

[33]  R. Iyer,et al.  Telecom-Band Directional Coupler Written With Femtosecond Fiber Laser , 2006, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[34]  Q. Zhan.  Cylindrical vector beams: from mathematical concepts to applications , 2009 .

[35]  I Zergioti,et al.  Plasma strings from ultraviolet laser filaments drive permanent structural modifications in fused silica. , 2007, Optics letters.

[36]  A. Kavokin,et al.  Propagation of exciton polaritons in inhomogeneous semiconductor films , 1999 .

[37]  Martynas Beresna,et al.  Twisting light with micro-spheres produced by ultrashort light pulses. , 2011, Optics express.

[38]  Koji Sugioka,et al.  Femtosecond laser nanostructuring in porous glass with sub-50 nm feature sizes. , 2013, Optics letters.

[39]  Cyril Hnatovsky,et al.  Pulse duration dependence of femtosecond-laser-fabricated nanogratings in fused silica , 2005 .

[40]  K. Miura,et al.  Writing waveguides in glass with a femtosecond laser. , 1996, Optics letters.

[41]  B. Do,et al.  Bulk and surface laser damage of silica by picosecond and nanosecond pulses at 1064 nm. , 2008, Applied optics.

[42]  Saulius Juodkazis,et al.  Evidence of superdense synthesized by ultrafast microexplosion , 2011, Nature communications.

[43]  Masaaki Sakakura,et al.  Mechanism of heat-modification inside a glass after irradiation with high-repetition rate femtosecond laser pulses , 2010 .

[44]  Peter G. Kazansky,et al.  ``Quill'' writing with ultrashort light pulses in transparent materials , 2007 .

[45]  Yasuhiko Shimotsuma,et al.  Nanofabrication in transparent materials with a femtosecond pulse laser , 2006 .

[46]  E Barthel,et al.  Scanning thermal microscopy and Raman analysis of bulk fused silica exposed to low-energy femtosecond laser pulses. , 2008, Optics express.

[47]  A. Siegman,et al.  Surface ripples on silicon and gallium arsenide under picosecond laser illumination , 1982 .

[48]  F. Kärtner,et al.  Self-starting 6.5-fs pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser. , 1997, Optics letters.

[49]  Philip Walther,et al.  Experimental boson sampling , 2012, Nature Photonics.

[50]  Weijia Yang,et al.  Self-assembled periodic sub-wavelength structures by femtosecond laser direct writing. , 2006, Optics express.

[51]  Peter G. Kazansky,et al.  Broadband anisotropy of femtosecond laser induced nanogratings in fused silica , 2013 .

[52]  Yves Bellouard,et al.  Femtosecond laser micromachining of fused silica molds. , 2010, Optics express.

[53]  Jinhai Si,et al.  Periodic nanovoid structures via femtosecond laser irradiation. , 2005, Nano letters.

[54]  Jonathan B. Ashcom,et al.  Numerical aperture dependence of damage and supercontinuum generation from femtosecond laser pulses in bulk fused silica , 2006 .

[55]  Guillaume Petite,et al.  Dynamics of femtosecond laser interactions with dielectrics , 2004 .

[56]  E. Mazur,et al.  Micromachining bulk glass by use of femtosecond laser pulses with nanojoule energy. , 2001, Optics letters.

[57]  Martin Richardson,et al.  Laser-induced defects in fused silica by femtosecond IR irradiation , 2006 .

[58]  E. Mazur,et al.  Femtosecond laser micromachining in transparent materials , 2008 .

[59]  Bing Hao,et al.  Experimental measurement of longitudinal component in the vicinity of focused radially polarized beam. , 2007, Optics express.

[60]  Masaaki Sakakura,et al.  Photosensitivity control of an isotropic medium through polarization of light pulses with tilted intensity front. , 2011, Optics express.

[61]  Koji Sugioka,et al.  Independent control of aspect ratios in the axial and lateral cross sections of a focal spot for three-dimensional femtosecond laser micromachining , 2011 .

[62]  A. Rode,et al.  Observation of O 2 inside voids formed in GeO 2 glass by tightly-focused fs-laser pulses , 2011 .

[63]  M. Obara,et al.  Self-fabrication of void array in fused silica by femtosecond laser processing , 2005 .

[64]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Femtosecond-laser-induced nanostructure formed on hard thin films of TiN and DLC , 2003 .

[65]  G. Marshall,et al.  Study of the influence of femtosecond laser polarisation on direct writing of waveguides. , 2006, Optics express.

[66]  Yves Bellouard,et al.  Towards fast femtosecond laser micromachining of fused silica: The effect of deposited energy. , 2010, Optics express.

[67]  C. Grigoropoulos,et al.  Single cell detection using a glass-based optofluidic device fabricated by femtosecond laser pulses. , 2009, Lab on a chip.

[68]  J. Nishii,et al.  Generation and recombination of defects in vitreous silica induced by irradiation with a near-infrared femtosecond laser , 2000 .

[69]  Max Born,et al.  Principles of optics - electromagnetic theory of propagation, interference and diffraction of light (7. ed.) , 1999 .

[70]  Y. Bellouard,et al.  Femtosecond versus picosecond laser machining of nano-gratings and micro-channels in silica glass. , 2013, Optics express.

[71]  D. Linde,et al.  Breakdown Threshold and Plasma Formation in Femtosecond Laser-Solid Interaction , 1994, High Field Interactions and Short Wavelength Generation.

[72]  Jeffrey A. Squier,et al.  Temporally focused femtosecond laser pulses for low numerical aperture micromachining through optically transparent materials , 2010, Optics express.

[73]  Peter G. Kazansky,et al.  Nano-modification inside transparent materials by femtosecond laser single beam , 2005 .

[74]  Gerd Leuchs,et al.  Focusing light to a tighter spot , 2000 .

[75]  Peter G. Kazansky,et al.  Anomalous anisotropic light scattering in Ge-doped silica glass , 1999 .

[76]  Yves Bellouard,et al.  Spatio-temporally focused femtosecond laser pulses for nonreciprocal writing in optically transparent materials. , 2010, Optics express.

[77]  Douglas C. Allan,et al.  Polarized excimer laser-induced birefringence in silica , 2002 .

[78]  P. Corkum,et al.  Polarization-selective etching in femtosecond laser-assisted microfluidic channel fabrication in fused silica. , 2005, Optics letters.

[79]  Bahaa E. A. Saleh,et al.  Second- and third-harmonic generation with vector Gaussian beams , 2006 .

[80]  A. Streltsov,et al.  Fabrication and analysis of a directional coupler written in glass by nanojoule femtosecond laser pulses. , 2001, Optics letters.

[81]  P. Kazansky,et al.  Polarization sensitive elements fabricated by femtosecond laser nanostructuring of glass [Invited] , 2011 .

[82]  R. Graf,et al.  Pearl-chain waveguides written at megahertz repetition rate , 2007 .

[83]  H. Hoffmann,et al.  Compact diode-pumped 1.1 kW Yb:YAG Innoslab femtosecond amplifier. , 2010, Optics letters.

[84]  E. Mazur,et al.  Ultrafast-laser driven micro-explosions in transparent materials , 1997 .

[85]  P. Corkum,et al.  Femtosecond laser erasing and rewriting of self-organized planar nanocracks in fused silica glass. , 2007, Optics letters.

[86]  Luping Shi,et al.  Creation of a needle of longitudinally polarized light in vacuum using binary optics , 2008 .

[87]  Erez Hasman,et al.  Polarization beam-splitters and optical switches based on space-variant computer-generated subwavelength quasi-periodic structures , 2002 .

[88]  J. Nishii,et al.  In situ observation of photoinduced refractive-index changes in filaments formed in glasses by femtosecond laser pulses. , 2001, Optics letters.

[89]  K Miura,et al.  Observation of pressure wave generated by focusing a femtosecond laser pulse inside a glass. , 2007, Optics express.

[90]  R. Boscaino,et al.  Unraveling exciton dynamics in amorphous silicon dioxide: Interpretation of the optical features from 8 to 11 eV , 2011 .

[91]  Saulius Juodkazis,et al.  Femtosecond laser induced density changes in GeO_2 and SiO_2 glasses: fictive temperature effect [Invited] , 2011 .

[92]  Koji Sugioka,et al.  Control of the cross-sectional shape of a hollow microchannel embedded in photostructurable glass by use of a femtosecond laser. , 2003, Optics letters.

[93]  S. Risbud,et al.  Structural changes in fused silica after exposure to focused femtosecond laser pulses. , 2001, Optics letters.

[94]  Zhi‐zhan Xu,et al.  Formation mechanism of self-organized voids in dielectrics induced by tightly focused femtosecond laser pulses , 2008 .

[95]  Yves Bellouard,et al.  Femtosecond-laser generation of self-organized bubble patterns in fused silica. , 2011, Optics express.

[96]  Costantino Corbari,et al.  Low loss photonic components in high index bismuth borate glass by femtosecond laser direct writing. , 2008, Optics express.

[97]  Saulius Juodkazis,et al.  Laser-induced microexplosion confined in a bulk of silica: formation of nanovoids , 2006 .

[98]  A. Okhrimchuk,et al.  Depressed cladding, buried waveguide laser formed in a YAG:Nd3+ crystal by femtosecond laser writing. , 2005, Optics letters.

[99]  P. Meynadier,et al.  Subpicosecond study of carrier trapping dynamics in wide-band-gap crystals , 1997 .

[100]  A. Couairon,et al.  Femtosecond laser-induced damage and filamentary propagation in fused silica. , 2002, Physical review letters.

[101]  Stefano Taccheo,et al.  Optical gain in Er-Yb doped waveguides fabricated by femtosecond laser pulses , 2002 .

[102]  Eric Mazur,et al.  Micromachining of bulk glass with bursts of femtosecond laser pulses at variable repetition rates. , 2006, Optics express.

[103]  Koji Sugioka,et al.  Tuning etch selectivity of fused silica irradiated by femtosecond laser pulses by controlling polarization of the writing pulses , 2011 .

[104]  Rafael Piestun,et al.  Polarization selective computer-generated holograms realized in glass by femtosecond laser induced nanogratings. , 2006, Optics express.

[105]  Gerard Mourou,et al.  Laser‐induced breakdown by impact ionization in SiO2 with pulse widths from 7 ns to 150 fs , 1994 .

[106]  S. Juodkazis,et al.  3D Laser Microfabrication , 2008 .

[107]  Jeremy Allington-Smith,et al.  Ultrafast laser inscription: an enabling technology for astrophotonics. , 2009, Optics express.

[108]  E. Bricchi,et al.  Femtosecond laser micro-machining and consequent self-assembled nano-structures in transparent materials , 2005 .

[109]  M. J. Withford,et al.  Two-photon quantum walks in an elliptical direct-write waveguide array , 2011, 1103.0604.

[110]  K. Sugioka,et al.  Femtosecond laser nanostructuring in porous glass with sub-50 nm feature sizes. , 2012, Optics letters.

[111]  K Miura,et al.  Writing Waveguides and Gratings in Silica and Related Materials by Femto-Second Laser , 1998, Bragg Gratings, Photosensitivity, and Poling in Glass Fibers and Waveguides: Applications and Fundamentals.

[112]  Koji Sugioka,et al.  Fabrication of microfluidic channels with a circular cross section using spatiotemporally focused femtosecond laser pulses. , 2010, Optics Letters.

[113]  B. J. Metcalf,et al.  Adaptive slit beam shaping for direct laser written waveguides. , 2012, Optics letters.

[114]  G Leuchs,et al.  Sharper focus for a radially polarized light beam. , 2003, Physical review letters.

[115]  Am Allison Schaap,et al.  Molding topologically-complex 3D polymer microstructures from femtosecond laser machined glass , 2013 .

[116]  Philippe M. Fauchet,et al.  Growth of spontaneous periodic surface structures on solids during laser illumination , 1982 .

[117]  Dirk Wortmann,et al.  Fabrication of sub-wavelength surface ripples and in-volume nanostructures by fs-laser induced selective etching , 2009 .

[118]  P. Kazansky,et al.  Extraordinary stability of anisotropic femtosecond direct-written structures embedded in silica glass , 2006 .

[119]  Jeremy L O'Brien,et al.  Laser written waveguide photonic quantum circuits. , 2009, Optics express.

[120]  John Canning,et al.  Anatomy of a femtosecond laser processed silica waveguide [Invited] , 2011 .

[121]  Harold K. Haugen,et al.  Subwavelength ripple formation on the surfaces of compound semiconductors irradiated with femtosecond laser pulses , 2003 .

[122]  Jeremy J Baumberg,et al.  Birefringent Fresnel zone plates in silica fabricated by femtosecond laser machining. , 2002, Optics letters.

[123]  Peter G. Kazansky,et al.  Modification thresholds in femtosecond laser processing of pure silica: review of dependencies on laser parameters [Invited] , 2011 .

[124]  Yoshinori Hibino,et al.  Low-loss waveguides written with a femtosecond laser for flexible interconnection in a planar light-wave circuit. , 2005, Optics letters.

[125]  Peter G. Kazansky,et al.  Ultrashort-pulse laser calligraphy , 2008 .

[126]  Nicholas F. Borrelli,et al.  Study of femtosecond-laser-written waveguides in glasses , 2002 .

[127]  T A Birks,et al.  Ultrafast laser inscription of an integrated photonic lantern. , 2011, Optics express.

[128]  W Sibbett,et al.  Ultrafast laser inscribed Yb:KGd(WO4)2 and Yb:KY(WO4)2 channel waveguide lasers. , 2009, Optics express.

[129]  S. Juodkazis,et al.  Effect of refractive index-mismatch on laser microfabrication in silica glass , 2003 .

[130]  S. Juodkazis,et al.  Mechanism of fine ripple formation on surfaces of (semi)transparent materials via a half-wavelength cavity feedback , 2011, Nanotechnology.

[131]  Xun Gu,et al.  Pulse-front tilt caused by spatial and temporal chirp , 2004, Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2004. (CLEO)..

[132]  D. E. Spence,et al.  60-fsec pulse generation from a self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. , 1991, Optics letters.

[133]  Stefano Taccheo,et al.  Femtosecond writing of active optical waveguides with astigmatically shaped beams , 2003 .

[134]  B Luther-Davies,et al.  Laser-induced microexplosion confined in the bulk of a sapphire crystal: evidence of multimegabar pressures. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[135]  D. Miller,et al.  Solid-state low-loss intracavity saturable absorber for Nd:YLF lasers: an antiresonant semiconductor Fabry-Perot saturable absorber. , 1992, Optics letters.

[136]  R Osellame,et al.  Femtosecond micromachining of symmetric waveguides at 1.5 microm by astigmatic beam focusing. , 2002, Optics letters.

[137]  Bernard Prade,et al.  Writing of permanent birefringent microlayers in bulk fused silica with femtosecond laser pulses , 1999 .

[138]  Tsuneo Mitsuyu,et al.  Photowritten optical waveguides in various glasses with ultrashort pulse laser , 1997 .

[139]  Andreas Tünnermann,et al.  Tuning the structural properties of femtosecond-laser-induced nanogratings , 2010 .

[140]  Andreas Tünnermann,et al.  On the fundamental structure of femtosecond laser‐induced nanogratings , 2012 .

[141]  M. Stuke,et al.  Femtosecond uv excimer laser ablation , 1987 .

[142]  Bodil Braren,et al.  Ablation and etching of polymethylmethacrylate by very short (160 fs) ultraviolet (308 nm) laser pulses , 1987 .

[143]  P. Kazansky,et al.  Form birefringence and negative index change created by femtosecond direct writing in transparent materials. , 2004, Optics letters.

[144]  Bruce Z Gao,et al.  Surface plasmon resonance imaging of cell-substrate contacts with radially polarized beams. , 2008, Optics express.

[145]  Ivo Zawischa,et al.  Mode-locked Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator with 41 µJ pulse energy at 145 W average infrared power and high power frequency conversion. , 2012, Optics express.

[146]  Martynas Beresna,et al.  Extraordinary anisotropy of ultrafast laser writing in glass. , 2013, Optics express.

[147]  Peter G. Kazansky,et al.  Exciton mediated self-organization in glass driven by ultrashort light pulses , 2012 .

[148]  Wieslaw Krolikowski,et al.  Revealing local field structure of focused ultrashort pulses. , 2011, Physical review letters.

[149]  D. Cline,et al.  Vacuum laser acceleration using a radially polarized CO2 laser beam , 1999 .

[150]  Ursula Keller,et al.  Frontiers in passively mode-locked high-power thin disk laser oscillators. , 2012, Optics express.

[151]  A. Fender,et al.  Ultrafast laser inscription of a three dimensional fan-out device for multicore fiber coupling applications , 2007, 2008 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and 2008 Conference on Quantum Electronics and Laser Science.

[152]  Linards Skuja,et al.  Oxygen-excess-related point defects in glassy/amorphous SiO2 and related materials , 2012 .

[153]  Yves Bellouard,et al.  Optically transparent glass micro-actuator fabricated by femtosecond laser exposure and chemical etching , 2012 .

[154]  Ali A. Said,et al.  Optical waveguide amplifier in Nd-doped glass written with near-IR femtosecond laser pulses , 2000 .

[155]  Mehmet Fatih Yanik,et al.  Neurosurgery: Functional regeneration after laser axotomy , 2004, Nature.

[156]  Kathleen S. Youngworth,et al.  Dark-field imaging with cylindrical-vector beams. , 2006, Applied optics.

[157]  R. Boscaino,et al.  Evidence of delocalized excitons in amorphous solids. , 2010, Physical review letters.

[158]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Origin of periodicity in nanostructuring on thin film surfaces ablated with femtosecond laser pulses. , 2008, Optics express.

[159]  Philippe M. Fauchet,et al.  Stimulated Wood's anomalies on laser-illuminated surfaces , 1986 .

[160]  T G Brown,et al.  Polarization-vortex-driven second-harmonic generation. , 2003, Optics letters.

[161]  Shoji Maruo,et al.  Recent progress in multiphoton microfabrication , 2008 .

[162]  S. Kawata,et al.  Three-dimensional microfabrication with two-photon-absorbed photopolymerization. , 1997, Optics letters.

[163]  H. H. van den Vlekkert,et al.  Integration of femtosecond laser written optical waveguides in a lab-on-chip. , 2009, Lab on a chip.

[164]  R. Brückner,et al.  Properties and structure of vitreous silica. I , 1970 .

[165]  J. P. Callan,et al.  Three-dimensional optical storage inside transparent materials. , 1996, Optics letters.

[166]  Eric Mazur,et al.  Laser-induced breakdown and damage in bulk transparent materials induced by tightly focused femtosecond laser pulses , 2001 .

[167]  L. Skuja.  Optically active oxygen-deficiency-related centers in amorphous silicon dioxide , 1998 .

[168]  K. Hill,et al.  Photosensitivity in optical fiber waveguides: Application to reflection filter fabrication , 1978 .

[169]  Fumiyo Yoshino,et al.  Heat accumulation effects in femtosecond laser-written waveguides with variable repetition rate. , 2005, Optics express.

[170]  J. Baumberg,et al.  Embedded anisotropic microreflectors by femtosecond-laser nanomachining , 2002 .

[171]  W Sibbett,et al.  The development and application of femtosecond laser systems. , 2012, Optics express.