Femtosecond laser micromachining of transparent material is a powerful and versatile technology. In fact, it can be applied to several materials. It is a maskless technology that allows rapid device prototyping, has intrinsic three-dimensional capabilities and can produce both photonic and microfluidic devices. For these reasons it is ideally suited for the fabrication of complex microsystems with unprecedented functionalities. The book is mainly focused on micromachining of transparent materials which, due to the nonlinear absorption mechanism of ultrashort pulses, allows unique three-dimensional capabilities and can be exploited for the fabrication of complex microsystems with unprecedented functionalities.This book presents an overview of the state of the art of this rapidly emerging topic with contributions from leading experts in the field, ranging from principles of nonlinear material modification to fabrication techniques and applications to photonics and optofluidics.

Femtosecond lasers opened up new avenue in materials processing due to its unique features of ultrashort pulse width and extremely high peak intensity. One of the most important features of femtosecond laser processing is that strong absorption can be induced even by materials which are transparent to the femtosecond laser beam due to nonlinear multiphoton absorption. The multiphoton absorption allows us to perform not only surface but also three-dimensionally internal microfabrication of transparent materials such as glass. This capability makes it possible to directly fabricate three-dimensional microfluidics, micromechanics, microelectronics and microoptics embedded in the glass. Further, these microcomponents can be easily integrated in a single glass microchip by the simple procedure using the femtosecond laser. Thus, the femtosecond laser processing provides some advantages over conventional methods such as traditional semiconductor processing or soft lithography for fabrication of microfluidic, optofludic and lab-on-a-chip devices and thereby many researches on this topic are currently being carried out. This book presents a comprehensive review on the state of the art and future prospects of femtosecond laser processing for fabrication of microfluidics and optofludics including principle of femtosecond laser processing, detailed fabrication procedures of each microcomponent and practical applications to biochemical analysis.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advances in laser techniques for micro-nano-manufacturing and an in-depth analysis of applications, such as 3D printing and nanojoining. Lasers have gained increasing significance as a precise tool for advanced manufacturing. Written by world leading scientists, the first part of the book presents the fundamentals of laser interaction with materials at the micro- and nanoscale, including multiphoton excitation and nonthermal melting, and allows readers to better understand advanced processing. In the second part, the authors focus on various advanced fabrications, such as laser peening, surface nanoengineering, and plasmonic heating. Finally, case studies are devoted to special applications, such as 3D printing, microfluidics devices, energy devices, and plasmonic and photonic waveguides. This book integrates both theoretical and experimental analysis. The combination of tutorial chapters and concentrated case studies will be critically attractive to undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and engineers in the relevant fields. Readers will grasp the full picture of the application of laser for micro-nanomanufacturing and 3D printing.

Micromachining is used to fabricate three-dimensional microstructures and it is the foundation of a technology called Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS). Bulk micromachining and surface micromachining are two major categories (among others) in this field. This book presents advances in micromachining technology. For this, we have gathered review articles related to various techniques and methods of micro/nano fabrications, like focused ion beams, laser ablation, and several other specialized techniques, from esteemed researchers and scientists around the world. Each chapter gives a complete description of a specific micromachining method, design, associate analytical works, experimental set-up, and the final fabricated devices, followed by many references related to this field of research available in other literature. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of this technology, the collection of articles presented here can be used by scientists and researchers in the disciplines of engineering, materials sciences, physics, and chemistry.

"Femtosecond (fs) laser micromachining is a single-step, contactless surface texturing method which can create hierarchical structures that present both micro- and nanoscale roughness. While fs laser-induced structures have been extensively studied on metals, very few publications have investigated their formation on polymer surfaces. It has recently been shown that homogeneous fs irradiation of a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) surface leads to the formation of a high surface area porous structure. Such a structure could be highly beneficial for several applications such as self-cleaning materials and biomedical implants. However, as of yet, no basis for the optimization of this novel topology exists since its optical and chemical properties and the mechanism behind its formation have not been investigated. Thus, in this thesis, a detailed investigation and characterization of femtosecond laser-induced structures on polymer surfaces was performed.By fitting several absorption models to ablation data, porous structure formation was determined to form as a consequence of explosive boiling and was observed to depend on the threshold fluence at machining conditions. For polymers with a sufficiently high threshold fluence, a minority of the incoming energy is converted into material ionization. Thus, the surface melt layer heats above the critical temperature for phase explosion and homogeneous bubble formation occurs. The quenching of the melt layer in between consecutive pulses leads to the formation of pores which are a remnant of the volume occupied by the bubbles during explosive boiling. Spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization at different wavelengths helped identify the parameters that affect the threshold fluence through incubation effects. Higher threshold fluences and lower incubation coefficients were observed during near-infrared irradiation as opposed to ultraviolet irradiation. This behavior at longer wavelengths was attributed to a shift from a multiphoton absorption mechanism at low pulse numbers to a linear absorption mechanism at higher pulse numbers. This effect was observed to be more significant for polymers that are susceptible to photooxidation.Crystallographic evidence of explosive boiling was measured by grazing incidence X-ray diffractometry. For high density poly(ethylene), laser micromachining was observed to induce a local decrease in crystallinity and the appearance of a monoclinic phase that is typically only stable at high temperatures and pressure. This confirmed that fs laser-induced polymer structures form from a quenched melt layer. In addition, the effect of viscoelastic melt properties on pore size was investigated. It was observed that for higher molecular weights (and thus higher viscosities), smaller pore sizes are achieved due to a decreased bubble growth rate during explosive boiling.Finally, a novel atmospheric pulsed laser deposition setup for the incorporation of nanoparticles into laser induced porous structures was developed. Through this technique, hydrophilic titanium oxide nanoclusters were incorporated into porous poly(ethylene terephthalate). By controlling the extent of nanoparticle coverage through the operating fluence, tunable wettability was achieved. Thus, this technique allows the optimization of fs laser induced structures for specific applications without compromising the porous topology." --