Non-contact femtosecond laser-based methods for investigating glass mechanics at small scales

With the progress made in miniaturizing systems over the last decades, understanding materialsâ behavior at small scales has become a necessity. In this context, glass behavior has remained largely unknown, partly for technological reasons and partly due to the inherent difficulties associated with its brittle fracture behavior. Despite their importance for technological implementation, questions such as its failure statistics or its behavior under constant load remain unanswered. This thesis aims at filling the gap of the available methodologies and instrumentation for the mechanical testing of glass at the micro-/nano- scale. Until recently, suitable methods for manufacturing arbitrary shapes in glass were missing, hampering the implementation of appropriate testing methods. Fortunately, recent progress in the field of femtosecond laser processing has opened new opportunities for designing specific tools adapted to the investigation of glass micromechanics. In addition, the careful observation of nanoscale self-organization processes taking place during laser exposure offers a novel means for observing fracture statistical behavior. Here, we use this novel glass processing method to introduce two novel experimental approaches: one based on novel concept of contactless micro-/nano-monolithic tensile tester, and a second one, based on statistical observations of an intermittent behavior occurring during laser exposure. Using these two approaches, we are able not only to load the material to unprecedented high level of stress and this, in a pure tensile mode, but also to study stress relaxation effects and finally, to explore its fracture statistical behavior. From the technology development perspective, this thesis offers an experimental framework for contactless testing of glass materials that, in particular for silica, set guidelines for microsystems designers. In parallel, this work demonstrates the use of unconventional methods, inherited from other scientific disciplines, as a means for extracting relevant brittle fracture parameters, usually difficult to obtain at the microscale and requiring extensive numbers of experiments

A Monolithic Micro-Tensile Tester for Investigating Silicon Dioxide Polymorph Micromechanics, Fabricated and Operated Using a Femtosecond Laser

Mechanical testing of materials at the microscales is challenging. It requires delicate procedures not only for producing and handling the specimen to be tested, but also for applying an accurate and controlled force. This endeavor is even more challenging when it comes to investigating the behavior of brittle materials such as glass. Here, we present a microtensile tester for investigating silica glass polymorphs. The instrument is entirely made of silica and for which the same femtosecond laser is not only used for fabricating the device, but also for operating it (loading the specimen) as well as for performing in situ measurements. As a proof-of-concept, we present a stress-strain curve of fused silica for unprecedented high tensile stress of 2.4 GPa, as well as preliminary results of the elastic modulus of femtosecond laser-affected zones of fused silica, providing new insights on their microstructures and mechanical behavior

Investigation of ultrafast laser photonic material interactions: challenges for directly written glass photonics

Currently, direct-write waveguide fabrication is probably the most widely studied application of femtosecond laser micromachining in transparent dielectrics. Devices such as buried waveguides, power splitters, couplers, gratings and optical amplifiers have all been demonstrated. Waveguide properties depend critically on the sample material properties and writing laser characteristics. In this paper we discuss the challenges facing researchers using the femtosecond laser direct-write technique with specific emphasis being placed on the suitability of fused silica and phosphate glass as device hosts for different applications.Comment: 11 pages, 87 references, 11 figures. Article in revie

Direct-write diffracting tubular optical components using femtosecond lasers

Over the last decade, femtosecond lasers have been used extensively for the fabrication of optical elements via direct writing and in combination with chemical etching. These processes have been an enabling technology for manufacturing a variety of devices such as waveguides, fluidic channels, and mechanical components. Here, we present high quality micro-scale optical components buried inside various glass substrates such as soda-lime glass or fused silica. These components consist of high-precision, simple patterns with tubular shapes. Typical diameters range from a few microns to one hundred microns. With the aid of high-bandwidth, high acceleration flexure stages, we achieve highly symmetric pattern geometries, which are particularly important for achieving homogeneous stress distribution within the substrate. We model the optical properties of these structures using beam propagation simulation techniques and experimentally demonstrate that such components can be used as cost-effective, low-numerical aperture lenses. Additionally, we investigate their capability for studying the stress-distribution induced by the laser-affected zones and possible related densification effects

Laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) of water soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymers for use as support material for 3D-printed structures

The additive microfabrication method of laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) permits the creation of functional microstructures with feature sizes down to below a micrometre [1]. Compared to other additive manufacturing techniques, LIFT can be used to deposit a broad range of materials in a contactless fashion. LIFT features the possibility of building out of plane features, but is currently limited to 2D or 2½D structures [2–4]. That is because printing of 3D structures requires sophisticated printing strategies, such as mechanical support structures and post-processing, as the material to be printed is in the liquid phase. Therefore, we propose the use of water-soluble materials as a support (and sacrificial) material, which can be easily removed after printing, by submerging the printed structure in water, without exposing the sample to more aggressive solvents or sintering treatments. Here, we present studies on LIFT printing of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer thin films via a picosecond pulsed laser source. Glass carriers are coated with a solution of PVA (donor) and brought into proximity to a receiver substrate (glass, silicon) once dried. Focussing of a laser pulse with a beam radius of 2 µm at the interface of carrier and donor leads to the ejection of a small volume of PVA that is being deposited on a receiver substrate. The effect of laser pulse fluence , donor film thickness and receiver material on the morphology (shape and size) of the deposits are studied. Adhesion of the deposits on the receiver is verified via deposition on various receiver materials and via a tape test. The solubility of PVA after laser irradiation is confirmed via dissolution in de-ionised water. In our study, the feasibility of the concept of printing PVA with the help of LIFT is demonstrated. The transfer process maintains the ability of water solubility of the deposits allowing the use as support material in LIFT printing of complex 3D structures. Future studies will investigate the compatibility (i.e. adhesion) of PVA with relevant donor materials, such as metals and functional polymers. References: [1] A. Piqué and P. Serra (2018) Laser Printing of Functional Materials. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. [2] R. C. Y. Auyeung, H. Kim, A. J. Birnbaum, M. Zalalutdinov, S. A. Mathews, and A. Piqué (2009) Laser decal transfer of freestanding microcantilevers and microbridges, Appl. Phys. A, vol. 97, no. 3, pp. 513–519. [3] C. W. Visser, R. Pohl, C. Sun, G.-W. Römer, B. Huis in ‘t Veld, and D. Lohse (2015) Toward 3D Printing of Pure Metals by Laser-Induced Forward Transfer, Adv. Mater., vol. 27, no. 27, pp. 4087–4092. [4] J. Luo et al. (2017) Printing Functional 3D Microdevices by Laser-Induced Forward Transfer, Small, vol. 13, no. 9, p. 1602553

A micro-optical module for multi-wavelength addressing of trapped ions

The control of large-scale quantum information processors based on arrays of trapped ions requires a means to route and focus multiple laser beams to each of many trapping sites in parallel. Here, we combine arrays of fibres, 3D laser-written waveguides and diffractive microlenses to demonstrate the principle of a micro-optic interconnect suited to this task. The module is intended for use with an ion microtrap of 3D electrode geometry. It guides ten independent laser beams with unique trajectories to illuminate a pair of spatially separated target points. Three blue and two infrared beams converge to overlap precisely at each desired position. Typical relative crosstalk intensities in the blue are $3.6 \times 10^{-3}$ and the average insertion loss across all channels is $8~$dB. The module occupies $\sim 10^4$ times less volume than a conventional bulk-optic equivalent and is suited to different ion species