Abstract
Polymers are an excellent alternative to fused silica glass for optofluidics due to their low cost, flexibility and ease of processing. Femtosecond laser microfabrication is a very promising technology for producing waveguides and channels for optofluidics in dielectrics due to its nonlinear light-material interaction [1]. For waveguide formation, three modification regimes have been identified according to the repetition rate: single pulse (1-100 kHz), heat diffusion and accumulation (100 kHz-2 MHz) and heat accumulation (2-80 MHz) [2]. The moderate repetition rate regime has shown the greatest promise in achieving low waveguide loss and high refractive index change in glasses due to the unique balance between heat diffusion and buildup [2]. This regime is here applied to waveguide writing in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) for the first time, to improve upon the low [3] and negative [4] index changes previously reported with the single-pulse and heat buildup regimes, respectively. In addition, we report the femtosecond laser fabrication in PMMA of surface microchannels, the second building block for optofluidics, with the aim of developing an integrated optofluidic sensor.
© 2009 IEEE
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