Focussed ultrashort laser pulses can create a permanent refractive index change inside materials such as glass, crystal and polymer. This phenomenon has led to a new field in photonics whereby optical waveguide devices can be directly written into the volume of bulk materials simply by moving the sample through the laser focus.
Ultrafast laser inscription (ULI) is a powerful technology for realising 3D integrated waveguide components for a number of applications. Significant advances have been made in quantum logic circuits, integrated photonic/microfluidic biological devices, telescope pupil remappers for astrophysics, and photonic lanterns in spatial division multiplexing.
The Ultrafast Laser Facility at Macquarie University has the capability to fabricate laser written photonic devices via its suite of femtosecond lasers coupled with high precision motion control systems. Our laser direct-write team specialises in providing customers with bespoke integrated photonic waveguide devices in a variety of materials.
To complement this service, our Facility also uses the direct-write technique to fabricate user-defined Bragg gratings in many optical fibres. Such fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) have been used in sensing, telecommunication and laser applications.
Customers not wishing to take advantage of our fabrication capability can just as easily access our widely tunable femtosecond laser system specifically allocated for ultrafast laser experiments.
The key services on offer are:
- Femtosecond laser written fibre Bragg gratings (Spectra Physics Hurricane system)
- Femtosecond laser written photonic cicuits inside bulk materials (Coherent RegA system).
- CW & pulsed, widely tunable, Ti:Sapphire Coherent Chameleon femtosecond laser for laser experiments
