Femtosecond laser micro/nanomachining of glass materials for optofluidic applications and beyond

We report on the fabrication of various types of micro and nano-scale functional structures, such as micro-optical, microfluidic, and microelectronic components, in glass materials using femtosecond laser micro/nano-machining. We show that high-aspect-ratio micro-fluidic channels and micro-optical lenses can be fabricated on the fused silica substrate for constructing integrated optofluidic micro-systems, and micro-electrodes can be formed in dielectric materials for incorporating electro-optical functions into the photonic and optofluidic micro-systems. Thus, femtosecond laser micro/nanomachining will open up a broad spectrum of opportunities in the optofluidic and optoelectronic applications.