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Ultrafast Laser Written Photonic, Sensing and Microfluidic Circuits in Transparent Materials

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A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732). This special issue belongs to the section "Lasers, Light Sources and Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 11241

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ottavia Jedrkiewicz

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Guest Editor

Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie, CNR, Como, Italy
Interests: nonlinear and quantum optics; pulse/beam shaping, Bessel beam generation; micro and nanofabrication of transparent materials; application to microfluidics; laser drilling and cutting; spatiotemporal correlations and entanglement in high-gain regime; engineering of quantum states in parametric down conversion

Prof. Roberta Ramponi

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Guest Editor

Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies (IFN) – CNR, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
Interests: femtosecond laser micromachining; microoptofluidic devices; photonics devices; optical sensing; integrated quantum optics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the discovery that, thanks to nonlinear absorption, tightly focused ultrashort laser pulses can induce highly localized permanent refractive index modification or even voids in a large number of transparent dielectrics, the technique of ultrafast laser inscription has received great attention for a wide range of applications. It has evolved from a curiosity to a viable platform for the rapid three-dimensional prototyping of small-scale circuits, in different contexts such as optical waveguiding, microfluidics, lab-on-chips, or quantum information science.

This Special Issue aims to explore the current state-of-the-art in applying ultrashort laser pulses for the micro or nano processing of different transparent materials, to review the basic techniques and technological challenges of 3D integrated photonics fabricated using ultrafast laser inscription and relevant to different research areas such as quantum information, sensing, or microfluidics. In general, this Special Issue aims to highlight the most recent progress in the field of ultrafast laser written optical components in transparent materials for different applications. Contributions that explore advanced laser writing techniques as well as those that discuss innovative photonic, sensing, or microfluidic devices and integrated platforms will be welcomed.

Dr. Ottavia Jedrkiewicz
Prof. Roberta Ramponi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Photonics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

laser micromachining
micropatterning
laser functionalization
advanced manufacturing
3D integrated photonics
quantum information
quantum sensing
microfluidics
lab-on-chips

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 6661 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Femtosecond Laser Direct Writing of Antireflection Microstructures on the Front and Back Sides of a GaSe Crystal

by Alexander Yelisseyev, Vladislav Fedyaj, Victor Simonov, Ludmila Isaenko, Sergey Lobanov, Alexander Shklyaev, Andrey Simanchuk, Sergey Babin and Alexander Dostovalov

Photonics 2022, 9(10), 774; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/photonics9100774 - 18 Oct 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1502

Abstract

The development of antireflection coatings is crucially important to improve the performance of various photonic devices, for example, to increase the efficiency of harmonic generators based on high-refractive index crystals with significant Fresnel losses. A promising technique for the reducing of radiation reflection is to change the refractive index by fabrication of antireflection microstructures (ARM) on the surface. This paper presents the results of ARM direct writing on the surfaces of a nonlinear GaSe crystal (of ε modification, according to Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy data) using fs laser radiation and a multiples approach. An increase in transmission from 65% to 80% for an ARM fabricated on one side of the crystal and up to 94% for ARMs fabricated on both sides is demonstrated. The increase in transmission with the increasing pulse energy, as well as with an increase in the number of pulses used for the formation of a single crater, is shown. The experimental results of ARM transmission of GaSe are in qualitative agreement with the simulation results based on the measured profiles and morphology of the ARM structures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrafast Laser Written Photonic, Sensing and Microfluidic Circuits in Transparent Materials)

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12 pages, 17615 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Laser 3D Printing of Inorganic Free-Form Micro-Optics

by Diana Gonzalez-Hernandez, Simonas Varapnickas, Greta Merkininkaitė, Arūnas Čiburys, Darius Gailevičius, Simas Šakirzanovas, Saulius Juodkazis and Mangirdas Malinauskas

Photonics 2021, 8(12), 577; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/photonics8120577 - 14 Dec 2021

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 5203

Abstract

A pilot study on laser 3D printing of inorganic free-form micro-optics is experimentally validated. Ultrafast laser direct-write (LDW) nanolithography is employed for structuring hybrid organic-inorganic material SZ2080^TM followed by high-temperature calcination post-processing. The combination allows the production of 3D architectures and the heat-treatment results in converting the material to inorganic substances. The produced miniature optical elements are characterized and their optical performance is demonstrated. Finally, the concept is validated for manufacturing compound optical components such as stacked lenses. This is an opening for new directions and applications of laser-made micro-optics under harsh conditions such as high intensity radiation, temperature, acidic environment, pressure variations, which include open space, astrophotonics, and remote sensing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrafast Laser Written Photonic, Sensing and Microfluidic Circuits in Transparent Materials)

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Review

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29 pages, 8403 KiB

Open AccessReview

Multiscale Laser Written Photonic Structures in Bulk Chalcogenide Glasses for Infrared Light Transport and Extraction

by Ciro D’Amico, Guillermo Martin, Johann Troles, Guanghua Cheng and Razvan Stoian

Photonics 2021, 8(6), 211; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/photonics8060211 - 10 Jun 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3650

Abstract

Direct ultrafast laser processing is nowadays considered the most flexible technique allowing to generate complex 3D optical functions in bulk glasses. The fact that the built-in optical element is embedded in the material brings several advantages in terms of prototype stability and lifetime, but equally in terms of complexity and number of possible applications, due to the 3D design. The generated optical functions, and in particular the single mode character of the light guiding element alongside the accessibility toward different spectral windows, depend on the refractive index contrast that can be achieved within the material transparency window and on the characteristic dimensions of the optical modification. In particular, the accessibility to the infrared and mid-infrared spectral domains, and to the relevant applications in sensing and imaging, requires increasing the cross-section of the guiding element in order to obtain the desired normalized frequency. Moreover, efficient signal extraction from the transported light requires nanometer size void-like index structures. All this demands a thorough knowledge and an optimal control of the material response within the interaction with the ultrafast laser pulse. We present here an overview of some recent results concerning large-mode-area light transport and extraction in sulfur-based chalcogenide mid-infrared glasses, putting emphasis on the study of the glass response to ultrafast lasers. We then demonstrate the utilization of the achieved optimized local index modifications for building efficient and compact embedded spectrometers (linear optical functions) and saturable absorbers (nonlinear optical functions) for integrated photonic applications in the infrared and mid-infrared spectral ranges. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrafast Laser Written Photonic, Sensing and Microfluidic Circuits in Transparent Materials)

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