Nanostructure of Medical and Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Devices Using Ultrafast Lasers and Liquid Optics

这项研究的目标是将联合收割机超快激光和非线性光学相结合，以实现纳米级结构材料的精确制造，几乎没有或没有附带的热损伤。利用新兴超快激光技术的纳米纤维在医疗和MEMS设备制造中具有潜在的应用，包括血管成形术导管的纳米结构化，MEMS中牺牲层的去除以及洛氏硬度金刚石压头的制造。对短脉冲光束通过非线性光学系统传输的研究将研究自聚焦能力，这种能力可以导致非常非锥形的小尺寸光束，这些光束预计与原始光束一样具有能量。对这种光束与结构材料相互作用的基本理解将允许在纳米尺度上控制材料的烧蚀。纳米切割预计将促进所产生的移动焦点沿着光轴从脉冲束，提供了可能性，创建锥形无功能，通过烧蚀材料内的纳米焦点区域。目标是通过限制烧蚀规模的热传导或质量流来获得精确的制造能力，而很少或没有附带的热损伤。该项目有可能将制造技术从微米级扩展到中尺度，并将与劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室和克拉克-MXR公司合作，这是超快激光技术用于微制造的先驱。该项目将为研究生和本科生提供令人兴奋的机会，学习和整合与精密制造和激光物理相关的问题。研究仪器将促进新的实验能力，目前在大学没有。

The objective of this research is to combine ultrafast lasers and nonlinear optics to enable precise fabrication of structural materials at the nanoscale, with little or no collateral thermal damage. Nanofabrication that takes advantage of emerging ultrafast laser technology has potential applications in medical and MEMS device manufacturing, which includes nanostructuring of angioplasty catheters, removal of sacrificial layers in MEMS, and fabrication of Rockwell hardness diamond indenters. Research into the transmission of the short-pulsed beam through nonlinear optics will investigate the self-focusing capabilities that can lead to extremely non-concial small-sized beams that are expected to be as energetic as the original beam. Fundamental understanding of the interaction of this beam with structural materials will allow controlled ablation of material at the nanometer scale. Nanometric cutting is expected to be facilitated by the resultant moving foci along the optical axis from the pulsed beam, offering the possibility of creating taper-free features by ablating material within a nanometer focal region. The objective is to obtain precise fabrication capabilities with little or no collateral thermal damage by limiting heat conduction or mass flow by the scale of the ablation.This project has the potential to extend the fabrication technology through the microscale to the mesoscale and will be performed in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Clark-MXR, Inc, pioneers of the ultrafast laser technology for microfabrication. The project will offer exciting opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to learn and integrate issues related to precision manufacturing and laser physics. The research instrumentation will facilitate new experimental capabilities not currently available at the university.