Laser micromachining of transparent glass using ultrafast Bessel beams

Abstract

We fabricated optical waveguides in fused silica by focusing femtosecond laser pulses with an axicon. With this technique, we also produced microholes by using chemical etching. The axicon, which is a conical lens, generates an optical beam with a transverse intensity profile that follows a zero-order Bessel function. Bessel beams produced by axicon focusing have a narrow focal line of a few micron width which is invariant along a long distance (>1 cm). By focusing femtosecond pulses with an axicon into fused silica, we induced permanent modifications over the extented focal line of the axicon without scanning axially the glass sample. The waveguides so fabricated exhibit low losses and no detectable birefringence due their excellent circular symmetry. By translating the glass sample during the inscription process, we have fabricated planar waveguides. Microfluidic channels were obtained by soaking the exposed samples into a HF solution.