Photosensitization agents for fs laser writing in PDMS

Jean-Sebastien Boisvert,Yannick Ledemi,Younes Messaddeq,Sebastien Loranger,Antsar Hlil,Ali Riaz,Raman Kashyap

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-05366-w

Jean-Sebastien Boisvert, Yannick Ledemi + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05366-w

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Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Jan 31, 2022
Citations: 8	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Polytechnique Montréal, Université Laval

Abstract

This study aims at identifying compounds incorporated into Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) which produce large refractive index change under fs laser exposition, potentially leading to optimal writing of waveguides or photonic devices in such a soft host. Germanium derivative, titania and zirconite derivatives, benzophenone (Bp), irgacure-184/500/1173 and 2959 are investigated. We show a mapping of the RI index change relative to the writing speed (1 to 40 mm/s), the repetition rate (606 to 101 kHz) and the number of passes (1 to 8) from which we establish quantitative parameters to allow the comparison between samples. We show that the organic materials, especially irgacure-184 and benzophenone yield a significantly higher maximum refractive index change in the order of 10−2. We also show that the strongest photosensitivity is achieved with a mixture of organic/organo-metallic material of Bp + Ge. We report a synergetic effect on photosensitivity of this novel mixture.

Highlights

This study aims at identifying compounds incorporated into Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) which produce large refractive index change under fs laser exposition, potentially leading to optimal writing of waveguides or photonic devices in such a soft host
The characterization covered by the chosen writing parameters applied to each of our sample is shown in the collection of 6 graphs presented in Fig. 2 for pristine Sylgard PDMS
In this study we investigated the ability of organic (Irgacure-184/500/1173/2959 and Benzophenone), inorganic (TiO2 and Zirconium) and organo-metallic (Ge-ATEG and Ge-acrylate) compounds incorporated into PDMS to produce refractive index (RI) changes under fs laser irradiation

Summary

Introduction

This study aims at identifying compounds incorporated into Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) which produce large refractive index change under fs laser exposition, potentially leading to optimal writing of waveguides or photonic devices in such a soft host. A refractive index (RI) change (Δn) of ~ 0.14 has been reported but bleaching reaction of the PDMS was observed resulting in degradation of the polymers chains which affects the mechanical and optical properties. The ideal goal is to render the PDMS photosensitive without significantly jeopardizing the other excellent qualities of this material, creating a cheap versatile writing platform for integration of photonics devices which would pave the way to ultra-tunable compact optical sensors, tunable lasers, or even tunable photonic crystals. The ideal candidate should produce a RI change, Δn of ~ 0.01 without significantly jeopardizing the other attributes of the polymer and remain stable over time To achieve this goal, identification of compounds responsible for the production of the desired RI change under fs laser exposition is needed.

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