Recent developments in the use of two‐photon polymerization in precise 2D and 3D microfabrications

Abstract The use of two‐photon polymerization (TPP) initiated by a photosensitizer's non‐linear two‐photon absorption in two‐ and three‐dimensional (2D and 3D) microfabrications for various photonic applications has been intensively studied. Since TPP emerged as a new technology over a decade ago, a large variety of micro‐objects including 3D micro‐optical components, micromechanical devices, and 3D photonic crystals have been fabricated using TPP with a high spatial resolution of approximately submicron scale to 100 nm. Recent efforts have been made to improve the fabrication efficiency and precision of micro‐objects obtained with TPP; in particular, many studies have been carried out with the aim of developing efficient two‐photon absorbing chromophores. In this article, efforts to develop highly efficient two‐photon absorbing materials and also describe recent attempts to enhance the resolution and improve the fabrication efficiency of nanofabrications based on two‐photon polymerization are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.