Fabricating complex hierarchical biomimetic patterns with the use of novel spatiotemporally tailored interfering laser beams

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oea.2022.210052  overviews fabricating complex hierarchical biomimetic patterns with the use of novel spatiotemporally tailored interfering laser beams.

 

Nature provides an abundance of functional surfaces as a direct consequence of evolutionary pressure that forces them to demonstrate adaptation to environmental conditions and outstanding performance. Fabricated patterns of enhanced complexity of micro- and nanometer length scales can emulate the impressive bioinspired performance and functionalities in various applications fields in technology and life sciences. Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP), a recently introduced laser-based fabrication methodology, has the capability to tailor the features of a surface topography and form a broad range of surface structures. The method used in this work aims to employ spatially controlled temporarily separated coherent femtosecond pulses to regulate the hydrodynamic microfluidic motion of a molten material that is produced from the intense laser sources. Experimental results interpreted through a rigorous physical modeling approach demonstrate that the contribution of the microfluidic phenomena is important to determine the features of the induced topographies. The capability to generate a wealth of complex high-resolution topographies by design through appropriate tuning of the laser characteristics and irradiation schemes could dictate an innovative methodology towards fabricating application-based biomimetic patterns.

 

Researchers Dr Fotis Fraggelakis, Dr George D. Tsibidis and Dr Emmanuel Stratakis, members of the Ultrafast Laser Micro- and Nano- Processing Laboratory (Stratakis’ Lab) at the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser at FORTH-Hellas reported a novel approach for tailoring the laser induced surface topography upon femtosecond (fs) pulsed laser irradiation and the use of DLIP. Experiments and simulations presented in this report emphasized the capability to actively tailor the microfluidic melt motion that dominates the structure formation process, via controlling the applied temperature gradient’s temporal profile. The investigation indicated that combining Gaussian beams with DLIP in double pulse trains enables the generation of unique sub-micron surface topographies with increased complexity. The unique irradiation schemes that are examined in this work and the capability to generate novel complex morphologies in multiple length scales offers great potential for exciting emerging avenues for innovation and exploitation in the photonics industry. This demonstrates an unparalleled capacity towards tailoring laser-induced morphology and obtaining complex topographies for a variety of applications.   

 

Article reference: Fraggelakis F, Tsibidis GD, Stratakis E. Ultrashort pulsed laser induced complex surface structures generated by tailoring the melt hydrodynamics. Opto-Electron Adv 5, 210052 (2022). doi: 10.29026/oea.2022.210052 

 

Keywords: laser-matter interaction / direct laser interference patterning / surface functionalization / laser micro/nano fabrication

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In the Ultrafast Laser Micro- and Nano- Processing Laboratory (Stratakis’ Lab) of IESL-FORTH research is focused on the development of novel ultrafast pulsed laser processing schemes for controlled biomimetic structuring at micro- and nano- scales of a variety of materials, including biopolymers. By applying ultrafast laser pulses novel surface structures with sub-micron sized features are produced while the physical properties of semiconductor, dielectric and metallic surfaces are significantly modified. The biomimetic surfaces developed exhibit controlled dual-scale morphology, which mimics the hierarchical structuring of natural surfaces with exciting properties (i.e. the Lotus leaf, the Shark Skin, the Butterfly wings). As a result, the biomimetic morphology attained gives rise to notable multifunctional properties including water repellence, self-cleaning, antibacterial, anti-sticking, anti-fogging, anti-reflection and combination of those (b) smart, i.e show the ability to change their functionality in response to different external stimuli. The ability to tailor the morphology and chemistry is an important advantage for the use of the biomimetic structures as models to study the dependence of growth, division and differentiation of cells on the surface energy of the culture substrates, as well as 3D scaffolds for tissue regeneration. At the same time, novel ultrafast non-linear imaging tools are employed to characterize the biological processes taking place during the development of tissue into 3D scaffolds. At the same time, ULMNP focuses on the ultrafast laser-based development of various types of nanomaterials, nanolayers and processes applied in photovoltaic, gas sensing and energy storage applications. The exploitation of ultrashort pulses for the doping, functionalization, spectroscopic diagnosis and quality control of graphene and other 2D materials is additionally explored, placing emphasis on the understanding of the fundamental physical properties of such materials.

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Opto-Electronic Advances (OEA) is a high-impact, open access, peer reviewed monthly SCI journal with an impact factor of 9.682 (Journals Citation Reports for IF 2020). Since its launch in March 2018, OEA has been indexed in SCI, EI, DOAJ, Scopus, CA and ICI databases over the time and expanded its Editorial Board to 36 members from 17 countries and regions (average h-index 49).

The journal is published by The Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, aiming at providing a platform for researchers, academicians, professionals, practitioners, and students to impart and share knowledge in the form of high quality empirical and theoretical research papers covering the topics of optics, photonics and optoelectronics.

 

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