An overview on femtosecond laser pulse shaping techniques applied to control of the initial photo-physical steps involved in materials processing is presented. First, pulse shaping methodology in frequency domain is introduced and examples of shaped pulses relevant to laser microfabrication are discussed. Then, the use of tailored femtosecond pulses to control the initial steps of laser processing of high band gap materials is demonstrated. In particular, control on basic ionization processes acting as the initial photo-physical step of the ablation dynamics is exerted by highly asymmetric femtosecond laser pulse shapes generated by Third Order Dispersion (TOD).

Fabricating aluminium surfaces with superhydrophobic and ice-repellent properties present nowadays a challenging task. In this work, multifunctional structures are manufactured by direct laser writing and direct laser interference patterning methods using pulsed infrared laser radiation (1064 nm). Different periodic patterns with feature sizes ranging from 7.0 to 50.0 µm are produced. In addition, hierarchical textures are produced combining both mentioned laser based methods. Water contact angle tests at room temperature showed that all produced patterns reached the superhydrophobic state after 13 to 16 days. In addition, these experiments were repeated at substrate temperatures from −30 °C to 80 °C allowing to determine three wettability behaviours as a function of the temperature. The patterned surfaces also showed ice-repellent properties characterized by a near three-fold increase in the droplets freezing times compared to the untreated samples. Using finite element simulations, it was found that the main reason behind the ice-prevention is the change in the droplet geometrical shape due to the hydrophobic nature of the treated surfaces. Finally, dynamic tests of droplets imping the treated aluminium surfaces cooled down to −20 °C revealed that only on the hierarchically patterned surface, the droplets were able to bounce off the substrate.

No abstract

A terahertz (THz) imaging system based on narrow band microbolometer sensors (NBMS) and a novel diffractive lens was developed for spectroscopic microscopy applications. The frequency response characteristics of the THz antenna-coupled NBMS were determined employing Fourier transform spectroscopy. The NBMS was found to be a very sensitive frequency selective sensor which was used to develop a compact all-electronic system for multispectral THz measurements. This system was successfully applied for principal components analysis of optically opaque packed samples. A thin diffractive lens with a numerical aperture of 0.62 was proposed for the reduction of system dimensions. The THz imaging system enhanced with novel optics was used to image for the first time non-neoplastic and neoplastic human colon tissues with close to wavelength-limited spatial resolution at 584 GHz frequency. The results demonstrated the new potential of compact RT THz imaging systems in the fields of spectroscopic analysis of materials and medical diagnostics.

Multilevel phase Fresnel lenses (MPFLs) with a high numerical aperture for 0.58 THz frequencies were developed. The components based on a monocrystalline silicon wafer are prepared by patterning by a high-speed industrial-scale laser direct writing (LDW) system. Two consistent series of the terahertz-MPFLs with phase quantization levels varying between 2 and the continuous kinoform shape for the focal lengths of 5 and 10 mm were produced employing inherent flexibility of the LDW fabrication process. The focusing performance was studied at the optimal 0.58 THz frequency using a Gaussian beam profile and scanning 2D intensity distribution with a terahertz detector along the optical axis. The efficiency of the terahertz-MPFL was found to be dependent of the number of subzones. The position and orientation angles of the patterned plane of the silicon wafer were considered to reduce the effect of standing waves formation in the experiment.