Microvoid channel polymer photonic crystals with large infrared stop gaps and a multitude of higher-order bandgaps fabricated by femtosecond laser drilling in solid resin

Abstract

Photosensitive polymer materials are ideally suited for laser-induced micro- and nanostructuring, as structural and compositional changes are achieved already under exposure to moderate intensities of high-repetition rate ultrashort-pulsed light. Photonic crystals with bandgaps in the infrared or the visible spectral region are a particularly interesting application, because highly correlated structural elements at a size of only a few hundred nanometers are required. We fabricated infrared photonic crystals based on microvoid channels inside solid polymer material. Femtosecond-pulsed visible light was focused into UV-cured Norland NOA63 resin by a high numerical aperture objective. In the focal spot microexplosions drive the material out of the center of the focus. Void channels of 0.7–1.3 μm diameter are generated by translating the sample along a preprogrammed pathway. Woodpile structures of void channels at layer spacings of 1.6–2.6 μm and in-plane channel spacings of 1.2–1.3 μm allowed for bandgap-induced suppression of infrared transmission in the stacking direction of as much as 86% by only 20 layers. As these structures are highly correlated and do not contain many imperfections, up to three higher-order stop gaps are observed. Consistent with theory, the number and gapwidth of higher-order gaps strongly increases with the ratio between layer- and in-plane spacing. Due to their low refractive index contrast and the missing interconnectivity of voids our structures do not provide complete photonic bandgaps. However, their manifold of sizable higher-order gaps allows for the engineering of photonic stop gaps down to the near-infrared wavelength region using comparatively large structural dimensions.