Spider silk is a tough, elastic and lightweight biomaterial, although there is a lack of tools available for non-invasive processing of silk structures. Here we show that nonlinear multiphoton interactions of silk with few-cycle femtosecond pulses allow the processing and heterostructuring of the material in ambient air. Two qualitatively different responses, bulging by multiphoton absorption and plasma-assisted ablation, are observed for low- and high-peak intensities, respectively. Plasma ablation allows us to make localized nanocuts, microrods, nanotips and periodic patterns with minimal damage while preserving molecular structure. The bulging regime facilitates confined bending and microwelding of silk with materials such as metal, glass and Kevlar with strengths comparable to pristine silk. Moreover, analysis of Raman bands of microwelded joints reveals that the polypeptide backbone remains intact while perturbing its weak hydrogen bonds. Using this approach, we fabricate silk-based functional topological microstructures, such as Mobiüs strips, chiral helices and silk-based sensors.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

We have investigated the effect of the dynamics of crater size on the poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) surface morphology in fs-laser micro-processing. PDMS surface was processed with varying both inter-pulse interval and inter-spot distance between successive laser pulses. With keeping the interval of 5 ms crater shape is round even if the spot is overlapped in space. But decreasing the interval to 0.02 ms the shape of the crater is no longer round. Decreasing the inter-distance between the craters results in roughened surface morphology even at time intervals of 5 ms. Temporal dependence of single-shot fs-laser induced crater size was measured as a function of time delay. Within 0.1 ms after pulse irradiation with a fluence of 4.8 J/cm2 on PDMS surface the crater size has reached to its maximum values and then decreased with a time constant of about 0.3 ms. The surface morphology after fs-laser pulse irradiation is strongly dependent on not only inter-spot distance between successive laser pulse but also their inter-pulse intervals. By proposing a theoretical model on their dynamic features, we will try to explain the current observation in quantitatively.

We introduce an ultra-thin attosecond optical delay line based on controlled wavefront division of a femtosecond infrared pulse after transmission through a pair of micrometer-thin glass plates with negligible dispersion effects. The time delay between the two pulses is controlled by rotating one of the glass plates from absolute zero to several optical cycles, with 2.5 as to tens of attosecond resolution with 2 as stability, as determined by interferometric self-calibration. The performance of the delay line is validated by observing attosecond-resolved oscillations in the yield of high harmonics induced by time delayed infrared pulses, in agreement with a numerical simulation for a simple model atom. This approach can be extended in the future for performing XUV-IR attosecond pump–probe experiments.

Nonlinear multiphoton absorption induced by focusing near infrared (NIR) femtosecond (fs) laser pulses into a transparent cornea allows surgery on neovascular structures with minimal collateral damage. In this report, we introduce an fs laser-based microsurgery for selective treatment of rat corneal neovascularizations (in vivo). Contiguous tissue effects are achieved by scanning a focused laser pulse below the corneal surface with a fluence range of 2.2–8.6 J/cm2. The minimal visible laser lesion (MVL) threshold determined over the corneal neovascular structures was found to be 4.3 J/cm2. Histological and optical coherence tomography examinations of the anterior segment after laser irradiations show localized degeneration of neovascular structures without any unexpected change in adjacent tissues. Furthermore, an approximately 30 % reduction in corneal neovascularizations was observed after 5 days of fs laser exposure. The femtosecond laser is thus a promising tool for minimally invasive intrastromal surgery with the aid of a significantly smaller and more deterministic photodisruptive energy threshold for the interaction between the fs laser pulse and corneal neovascular structures.

The advancements in producing interactions of concentrated energy fluxes, such as femtosecond lasers and high-energy electron beams with the absorbing substances, have facilitated new discoveries and excitement in various scientific and technological areas. Since their invention, significant improvements in temporal, spatial, energetic, and spectroscopic characteristics have been realized. Due to the ultrashort pulse width and higher intensity (1012 W/cm2), it is possible to ablate the materials with negligible damage outside the focal volume, thereby allowing the treatment of biological samples, such as live cells, membranes, and removal of thin films, as well as bulk materials for many applications in diverse fields, including micro-optics, electronics, and even biology under extremely high precision. Since most biological systems are transparent toward the NIR spectral range, it follows the nonlinear multi-photon absorption interaction mechanism. In contrast, the electron beam follows linear absorption mechanism for material modifications even at lower energies. For realizing the fs-laser nano-processing in material applications, such as silicon microchips, or in biology like retinal cells, it is crucial to find a way to deliver these pulses precisely at the site of action and enhance the selectivity. The utilization of electron beams in material modification has also been exercised widely to attain nanoscale precision. In the next section, biological materials, such as cornea, retina, and silk, are discussed.