Phys.org April 7, 2022
Glass that transmits IR wavelengths is essential for many applications. However, infrared glasses are difficult to manufacture, fragile and degrade easily in the presence of moisture.
Researchers in Switzerland have developed a new technique where they created an arbitrarily shaped 3D cavity inside a fused silica glass substrate using femtosecond laser-assisted chemical etching. They used a miniaturized version of pressure-assisted casting, in which a second material was melted and pressurized so that it could flow and solidify within the network of carved silica cavities. The second material can be a metal, glass, or any material with a melting point below that of the carved silica substrate and that does not react with silica glass. They demonstrated the method by creating various complex shapes. Some of the structures could be used for guiding mid-IR light emitted from a quantum cascade laser at 8 microns. According to the researchers the technique could open the door to a whole new range of new optical devices…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Schematic of the micro-infiltration process. Credit: Optics Express Vol. 30, Issue 8, pp. 13603-13615 (2022)Â