Femtosecond micro- and nano-machining of materials for microfluidic applications

Abstract

Ultrafast laser micromachining is a promising candidate for micro- and nano-fabrication technology. Due to the high precision of femtosecond ablation, laser-machined features can be added to devices prototyped by lithography. To accomplish that, parametric studies of laser interrogation of materials of interest are necessary. We present femtosecond laser ablation studies of glass, PDMS, fused silica, and diamond films. Samples were ablated by a 800 nm laser beam with pulse width of 200 fs laser and repetition rates of up to 250 kHz. Our results include single- and multi-pulse laser machining for fluidic and photonic devices. Feature size and structural dependences on ablation rates are discussed.