Selective etching of fs-laser written structures in Y3Al5O12

Abstract

We present a detailed study on selective chemical etching of fs-laser modified single crystalline Y 3 Al 5 O 12 (YAG) toward the fabrication of microchannels for micro- and optofluidic as well as photonic applications. The precise knowledge of parameters such as the etching rate, selectivity and roughness of the etched surfaces is essential for this purpose. In particular their dependence on structuring parameters, such as pulse energy and translation velocity as well as etching parameters, such as agent and temperature needs to be determined.