Microstructuring of optical fibers using a femtosecond laser

Abstract

Laser ablation with femtosecond lasers is highly promising for microfabrication of materials. Also, the high peak power of femtosecond lasers could induce a multiphoton absorption to ablate transparent materials. Similar results have also been were obtained in the case of optical fibers. In this paper, we present our experimental results of femtosecond laser microstructuring of optical fiber and its applications to microelectronic components and fiber optic devices. Finally, we directly produced micro holes with femtosecond laser pulses in a single step by moving an optical fiber in a preprogrammed structure. When water was introduced into a hole drilled from the bottom surface of the optical fiber, the effects of blocking and redeposition of ablated material were greatly reduced and the aspect ratio of the depth of the hole was increased. We have presented circular and rectangular-shaped holes in optical fiber.