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 […]