Abstract
Two-photon polymerization is an appealing technique for producing microscale devices due to its flexibility in producing structures with a wide range of geometries as well as its compatibility with materials suitable for biomedical applications. The greatest limiting factor in widespread use of two-photon polymerization is the slow fabrication times associated with line-by-line, high-resolution structuring. In this study, a recently developed technology was used to produce microstructures by two-photon polymerization with multiple foci, which significantly reduces the production time. Computer generated hologram pattern technology was used to generate multiple laser beams in controlled positions from a single laser. These multiple beams were then used to simultaneously produce multiple microstructures by two-photon polymerization. Arrays of micro-Venus structures, tissue engineering scaffolds, and microneedle arrays were produced by multifocus two-photon polymerization. To our knowledge, this work is the first demonstration of multifocus two-photon polymerization technology for production of a functional medical device. Multibeam fabrication has the potential to greatly improve the efficiency of two-photon polymerization production of microscale devices such as tissue engineering scaffolds and microneedle arrays.
Highlights
Over the past five years, the laser-based rapid prototyping process two-photon polymerization (2PP) has developed into a powerful tool for production of medical devices
We demonstrated that spatial light modulator (SLM) technology can be used to produce functional medical devices, such as tissue engineering scaffolds and microneedles, by 2PP at neverbefore-seen speeds
Multifocus 2PP fabrication based on SLM technology was used to produce Venus structures, tissue engineering scaffolds, and microneedles using a variety of focusing objectives, ranging from numerical apertures of 0.13 to 1.40
Summary
Over the past five years, the laser-based rapid prototyping process two-photon polymerization (2PP) has developed into a powerful tool for production of medical devices. This technique, Received 8 Aug 2011; revised 7 Oct 2011; accepted 9 Oct 2011; published 26 Oct 2011 1 November 2011 / Vol 2, No 11 / BIOMEDICAL OPTICS EXPRESS 3169 which utilizes non-linear absorption of femtosecond laser pulses to selectively polymerize a material, has the ability to produce structures with scalable resolutions from tens of micrometers down to sub-100 nanometers. Two-photon polymerization has several properties that make it appealing for production of medical devices This technique does not utilize harsh chemicals or extreme temperatures. Several reviews exist that discuss the benefits of using 2PP to produce medical devices [5,6,7]
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