Open AccessMicrochannels inside bulk PMMA generated by femtosecond laser using adaptive beam shaping
Author(s) -
GianLuca Roth,
Stefan Rung,
Cemal Esen,
Ralf Hellmann
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.384948
Subject(s) - optics , femtosecond , materials science , beam (structure) , microfluidics , spatial light modulator , spherical aberration , laser , laser beam quality , adaptive optics , laser beams , physics , nanotechnology , lens (geology)
In this contribution, we report on the generation of internal microchannels with basically unlimited channel length inside of PMMA bulk material by femtosecond laser. A precisely controllable and stable circular channel cross section is obtained by using a spatial light modulator to compensate the writing depth depending spherical aberration. Furthermore, the generation of a rotatable elliptical input beam by adaptive optics ensures a fitting of the beam shaping to the writing direction. In this study, we report on both, the effect of the ellipticity of the input beam and the effect of a correction of the spherical aberration on the circularity of the resulting internal microchannels. Moreover, we demonstrate the application of this writing technique by creating microfluidic testing structures inside of a transparent standard polymer.