Fiber-connectorized ultrafast-laser-inscribed K-band integrated optics beam combiner for the CHARA telescope array.

A fiber-connectorized K-band integrated-optics two-telescope beam combiner was developed for long-baseline interferometry at the CHARA telescope array utilizing the ultrafast laser inscription (ULI) technique. Single-mode waveguide insertion losses were measured to be ∼1.1d B over the 2-2.3 µm window. The development of asymmetric directional couplers enabled the construction of a beam combiner that includes a 50:50 coupler for interferometric combination and two ∼75:25 couplers for photometric calibration. The visibility of the bare beam combiner was measured at 87% and then at 82% after fiber-connectorization by optimizing the input polarization. These results indicate that ULI technique can fabricate efficient fiber-connectorized K-band beam combiners for astronomical purposes.

A Miniature Fibre-Optic Raman Probe Fabricated by Ultrafast Laser-Assisted Etching.

Optical biopsy describes a range of medical procedures in which light is used to investigate disease in the body, often in hard-to-reach regions via optical fibres. Optical biopsies can reveal a multitude of diagnostic information to aid therapeutic diagnosis and treatment with higher specificity and shorter delay than traditional surgical techniques. One specific type of optical biopsy relies on Raman spectroscopy to differentiate tissue types at the molecular level and has been used successfully to stage cancer. However, complex micro-optical systems are usually needed at the distal end to optimise the signal-to-noise properties of the Raman signal collected. Manufacturing these devices, particularly in a way suitable for large scale adoption, remains a critical challenge. In this paper, we describe a novel fibre-fed micro-optic system designed for efficient signal delivery and collection during a Raman spectroscopy-based optical biopsy. Crucially, we fabricate the device using a direct-laser-writing technique known as ultrafast laser-assisted etching which is scalable and allows components to be aligned passively. The Raman probe has a sub-millimetre diameter and offers confocal signal collection with 71.3% ± 1.5% collection efficiency over a 0.8 numerical aperture. Proof of concept spectral measurements were performed on mouse intestinal tissue and compared with results obtained using a commercial Raman microscope.

Optimisation of ultrafast laser assisted etching in fused silica.

Ultrafast laser assisted etching (ULAE) in fused silica is an attractive technology for fabricating three-dimensional micro-components. ULAE is a two-step process whereby ultrafast laser inscription (ULI) is first used to modify the substrate material and chemical etching is then used to remove the laser modified material. In this paper, we present a detailed investigation into how the ULI parameters affect the etching rate of laser modified channels and planar surfaces written in fused silica. Recently, potassium hydroxide (KOH) has shown potential to outperform the more commonly used hydrofluoric acid (HF) as a highly selective etchant for ULAE. Here we perform a detailed comparison of HF and KOH etching after laser inscription with a wide range of ultrafast laser irradiation parameters. Etching with KOH is found to be significantly more selective, removing the laser modified material up to 955 times faster than pristine material, compared with up to 66 when using HF. Maximum etching rates for the two etchants were comparable at 320 µm/hour and 363 µm/hour for HF and KOH respectively. We further demonstrate that highly selective, isotropic etching of non-planar surfaces can be achieved by controlling the polarization state of the laser dynamically during laser inscription.

Demonstration and characterization of ultrafast laser-inscribed mid-infrared waveguides in chalcogenide glass IG2.

The first demonstration and characterization of ultrafast laser-inscribed mid-infrared (mid-IR) waveguides in Ge33As12Se55 chalcogenide glass (IG2) is presented. From mode profile and throughput measurements, combined with modelling, the characteristics of the waveguides inscribed in IG2 are studied at 7.8 µm, and compared to those of waveguides inscribed in gallium lanthanum sulfide for reference. Two methods to estimate the local variation of refractive index induced by the inscription process are presented, which indicate a variation of ~0.010 to 0.015 across the inscription parameters investigated. This variation, together with a higher robustness of the material to inscription and large transparency covering the entire mid-IR spectral domain, suggest that IG2 has great potential for integrated optical applications in the mid-IR developed through the ultrafast laser inscription method.

Development of integrated mode reformatting components for diffraction-limited spectroscopy.

We present the results of our work on developing fully integrated devices (photonic dicers) for reformatting multimode light to a diffraction limited pseudo-slit. These devices can be used to couple a seeing limited telescope point spread function to a spectrograph operating at the diffraction limit, thus potentially enabling compact, high-resolution spectrographs that are free of modal noise.