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Materials processing

Two-photon fabrication

Nature Photonics volume 3, pages 450–452 (2009)Cite this article

Two-photon polymerization is a 3D nanoscale manufacturing tool that offers great potential for rapid prototyping and the manufacture of photonic devices, tissue scaffolds and biomechanical parts.

The rapid development of femtosecond laser systems and their transformation from research to production tools is triggering the industrialization of laser applications based on nonlinear optical processes, which so far have been confined to the laboratory. Direct laser writing by two-photon polymerization (2PP) of photosensitive materials is an example of such an application, and has emerged as a promising technique for rapid and flexible fabrication of fully three-dimensional (3D) structures with sub-100-nm resolution. The technology is based on two-photon absorption; when the beam of an ultrafast (for example, femtosecond) laser is tightly focused on a volume of photosensitive material, the polymerization process can be initiated by two-photon absorption within the focal region. By moving the beam focus in a 3D manner through the material, 3D structures can be fabricated. The only processing required afterwards is the washing and removal of the non-illuminated — and therefore non-photopolymerized — material.

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Figure 1: Inside view of the front of the commercially available 2PP system (housing open).

LZH

Figure 2: A spiral photonic crystal fabricated using the zirconium/silicon hybrid sol–gel SZ2080.

LZH

Figure 3: A 3D split-ring metamaterial structure, fabricated using a metal-binding hybrid polymer composite.

LZH

Figure 4: A selection of biomechanical parts made by 2PP.

FORTH / LZH

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Maria Farsari is at the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL), Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), N. Plastira 100, GR-70013, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. mfarsari@iesl.forth.gr,

    Maria Farsari

  2. Boris N. Chichkov is the Head of the Nanotechnology Department, Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., Hollerithallee 8, 30419 Hannover, Germany, and is a Physics Professor at Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Welfengarten 1, D-30167 Hannover, Germany. b.chichkov@lzh.de,

    Boris N. Chichkov

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  1. Maria Farsari
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  2. Boris N. Chichkov
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Farsari, M., Chichkov, B. Two-photon fabrication. Nature Photon 3, 450–452 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.131

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