We demonstrate the laser-induced forward transfer of fluorescent liquid droplets with viscosity 100 times higher than that of water. The optical vortex allows the high-definition direct-print of uniform microdroplets with no satellite droplets at desired locations within 10% positioning error, while the Gaussian laser produces only irregular printed droplets with many undesired satellite droplets. The printed droplets act as a laser with whispering-galley-modes. We discuss the droplet formation mechanism from the viewpoint of laser-induced cavitation based on the observation with a high-speed camera.
We demonstrate, for the first time, 2-dimensional (2D) direct print of perfect circle microdots consisting of close-packed Au nanoparticles by employing the optical vortex induced forward transfer (OV-LIFT). Going beyond the ink-jet printing technology, the OV-LIFT allows the direct print of ultrafine microdots with a diameter of ~8 μm and an ultralow positional error of <7 μm.
We demonstrate the direct print of micron-scale dots consisting of close-packed gold nanoparticles by employing the optical vortex laser-induced forward transfer technology. Moreover, SAM enhances the close-packing of gold nanoparticles in the printed dot.
We propose an entirely new printing technology based on an optical vortex laser induced forward transfer (OV-LIFT), which allows the production of microdroplets formed of an ultrahigh viscosity silver nano-ink (viscosity: 11 Pa∙s). The microdroplets are propelled and printed to be a dot with a diameter of <50 μm on a receiver film.
We demonstrate the laser induced forward transfer of fluorescent dye solution thin films with different viscosity by employing a single 532-nm nanosecond optical vortex pulse. Upon irradiating the laser pulse, a single microdroplet is ejected from the donor film, and it is deposited onto a receiver substrate. Well-aligned microdots with the same diameter were printed on the substrate with optical vortex, whereas the production of microdots in uniform size was prevented with a conventional Gaussian beam. In addition, we demonstrate the microprinting of a number of droplets by optical vortex.
Laser-induced forward transfer, a nozzle-free direct printing technology, enables the direct print of various donor materials, such as solids, high viscosity liquids with functional nanoparticles at high density, and even biomaterials, on a receiver owing to laser induced evaporation pressure. An optical vortex with a helical wavefront exhibits a donut-shaped spatial profile and an orbital angular momentum, and it has been leading to new fundamental sciences and advanced technologies. In recent years, we and our co-workers have proposed a new direct printing technology based on optical vortex, here referred as optical vortex laser induced forward transfer, in which a single optical vortex pulse twists the irradiated donor to eject and propel a pico-liter scale spinning microdroplet, thereby enabling well-aligned microdots with high spatial resolution on a receiver substrate. Going beyond conventional LIFT technologies, we here demonstrate the direct 2D print of well-aligned metallic microdots with a diameter of 15~45 µm, consisting of close-packed gold nanoparticles at high density, by the optical vortex laser induced forward transfer with the aid of a spin angular momentum associated with circular polarization. The electrical resistance of printed dot was measured to be ~10-7 Ωm, corresponding to 5-6 times higher than that of bulk gold. Optical vortex laser-induced forward transfer will pave the way towards next-generation printed electronics.
We demonstrate the creation of a microdroplet with a plasmonic Au nanoparticle core by employing the optical vortex
laser-induced forward transfer technology. The single plasmonic nanoparticle in the microdroplet is printed as a plasmonic
nanocore on a receiver substrate with a spatial resolution beyond the diffraction limit. This phenomenon manifests that the
optical vortex traps three-dimensionally only a suspended single Au nanoparticle in its dark core by its repulsive force
owing to plasmonic resonance, and it has the potential to realize a myriad of plasmonic structured materials.
Plasmonic nanostructures enable us to enhance light fields at nanoscale beyond diffraction limit, thereby offering us metamaterials and plasmonic crystals to realize exotic light-matter interactions, including negative refractive index, invisible cloaking, and perfect absorption.
We here demonstrate, for the first time to be the best of our knowledge, the creation of a single water microdroplet with a single plasmonic Au nanoparticle (~150 nm) core (plasmonic nanocore) by employing the optical vortex induced forward transfer. The microdroplet can be easily trapped to form a single plasmonic nanocore on a receiver substrate with a spatial resolution beyond the diffraction limit. Going beyond conventional fabrication processes for plasmonic structures, such as lithography technologies based on electron and ion beams, such plasmonic nanocore formation in a water microdroplet should offer us new fabrication technology for plasmonic structures.
We demonstrate successfully the creation of a microscale lead halide perovskite crystal by employing optical vortex laser induced forward transfer (OV-LIFT) technology. The created microscale crystals exhibit efficient visible (cyan~green~red) fluorescence with a lifetime of ~7 ns.
We discover an entirely novel phenomenon, so-called the formation of curved “spin-jet”, in which an irradiated fractional optical vortex provides a donor film non-axisymmetric torque to form a “spin-jet” with a curved trajectory. This phenomenon allows the development of a novel pattering technology to scan the ejected donor dots without any mechanical systems.
Optical vortex possesses an on-axial phase singularity and an orbital angular momentum (OAM) due to its spiral wavefront characterized by a topological charge ℓ. OAM of the optical vortex can twist or spin the target materials, such as silicon, metal, and polymer, to form chiral structures.
In this paper, we report on the creation of helical microfibers by irradiating picosecond optical vortex pulses with a wavelength of 532 nm to ultraviolet curing resin via a two-photon-absorption photopolymerization process.
Self-focusing effect of incident vortex pulses, arising from the photo-polymerization, confines efficiently optical vortex field to form a self-written helical fiber waveguide with the help of OAM transfer effect.
The resulting helical microfibers exhibited a length of ~300 μm Also, we could control the twisted direction of fibers merely by changing the sign of the topological charge of optical vortex. These experiments will open up a new way to the practical application of helical microfiber to optical communications.
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