Two-Photon Laser Lithography of Active Microcavity Structures

Abstract

Fabrication of active fluorescent microstructures with given parameters is an important task of integrated optics. One of the most efficient methods of fabrication of such microstructures is two-photon laser lithography. However, most polymers used in this technology have a relatively low quantum yield of fluorescence. In this work, the properties of microcavity structures obtained by the indicated method from hybrid polymers with addition of various dyes have been studied. The possibility of formation of high-quality microstructures from activated polymers, conservation of their luminescent properties after polymerization under intense laser irradiation, and reduction of the exposure of two-photon laser lithography by two orders of magnitude in the presence of Coumarin-1 dye has been demonstrated. The nonlinear optical microscopy study has shown that the spatial distribution of scattered fluorescence in microcavity structures based on the polymer with the dye corresponds to the excitation of cavity modes or whispering gallery modes.