Fabrication of microchannels by space-selective control of phase separation in glass

• Published in: Optics letters Vol. 41; no. 14; p. 3371
• Main Authors: Yu, Yongze, Chen, Yeqin, Chen, Jiejie, Lv, Shichao, Feng, Xu, Qi, Yuzhong, Qiu, Jianrong, Zhou, Shifeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 15.07.2016
• ISSN: 1539-4794
• DOI: 10.1364/OL.41.003371

Microchannels have important scientific applications in many fields, because they enable precise control, manipulation, and analysis of fluid on a micrometer scale. Herein, we demonstrate an effective strategy for fabrication of microchannels, based on the space-selective phase separation in glass induced by a femtosecond laser. The proposed method shows its abilities in fabrication of three-dimensional microchannels with ∼5  mm length scale and a uniform cross section. Moreover, we also achieve the modulation of the morphology on the inner surface of microchannels by using objective lenses with various numerical-apertures. The physical mechanism of the phase separation and microstructure evolution is discussed. Our method provides new opportunities to fabricate microchannels with complex structures and multifunctional integration.