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Fabrication of micro-tube arrays in photopolymer SZ2080 by using three different methods of a direct laser polymerization technique

2012; IOP Publishing; Volume: 22; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1088/0960-1317/22/6/065022

1361-6439

Evaldas Stankevičius, Titas Gertus, Marius Rutkauskas, Mindaugas Gedvilas, Gediminas Račiukaitis, R. Gadonas, V. Smilgevičius, Mangirdas Malinauskas,

Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry

In this paper we demonstrate femtosecond laser fabrication of micro-tubes with a height of several tens of micrometers in the photopolymer SZ2080 by three different methods: direct laser writing, using the optical vortex beam and holographic lithography. The flexibility of direct laser writing and dramatic increase of production efficiency by applying the vortex-shaped beam and four-beam interference approaches are presented. Sample arrays of micro-tubes were successfully manufactured applying all three methods and the fabrication quality as well as efficiency of the methods is compared. The processing time of a single micro-tube with 60 µm height and 3 µm inner radius is reduced 400 times for the holographic lithography technique and 500 times for the optical vortex method compared with the direct laser writing technique. The processing time of a micro-tube array containing 400 micro-tubes is the shortest for the holographic lithography method but not for the optical vortex method as in the case of a single micro-tube, because the holographic lithography method does not require time for sample translation. Additionally, the holographic lithography enables manufacturing of the whole micro-tube array by a single exposure. Although point-by-point photo-structuring ensures unmatched complexity of manufactured microstructures, employing nowadays high repetition rate amplified femtosecond lasers combined with beam shaping or several beam interference can envisage industrial applications for practical demands.