Ultrafast laser inscription: perspectives on future integrated applications

Abstract

This paper reviews the recent advancements achieved using ultrafast laser inscription (ULI) that highlight the cross-disciplinary potential of the technology. An overview of waveguide fabrication is provided and the three distinct types of waveguide cross-section architectures that have so far been fabricated in transparent dielectric materials are discussed. The paper focuses on two key emergent technologies driven by ULI processes. First, the recently developed photonic devices, such as compact mode-locked waveguide sources and novel midinfrared waveguide lasers are discussed. Secondly, the phenomenon and applications of selective etching in developing ultrafast laser inscribed structures for compact lab-on-chip devices are elaborated. The review further discusses the conceivable future of ULI in impacting the aforementioned fields.

Direct laser write process for 3D conductive carbon circuits in polyimide

“…The devices that have been demonstrated include photonic components [2,3], laser sources [4,5], and microfluidic channels [5,6]. Researchers have also experimented with metal-doped polymers as a material system for DLW sub-surface metallic wires [7][8][9].…”

Fabricating waveguide Bragg gratings (WBGs) in bulk materials using ultrashort laser pulses

“…In the past 20 years, many research articles have been published in the field, either giving insight into the light-material interactions underlying the technique or demonstrating one of the multitudes of photonic components that have been fabricated. The reader is directed to these selected review articles for an overview [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

Nonlinear refractive index of ultrafast laser inscribed waveguides in gallium lanthanum sulphide

“…In this work, we have utilized the ultrafast laser inscription (ULI) technique [5,6] to fabricate optical directional couplers in polished GLS glass substrates. ULI is a novel fabrication technique which offers the promise of highly functional optical circuits in three-dimensional geometries [7,8] that are not possible with commercial optical fiber or planar lightwave circuit (PLC) fabrication methods.…”