View by Category
Published
, Published online: 30 March 2026
, doi: 10.37188/lam.2026.025
Binder jetting (BJ) additive manufacturing demonstrates significant potential in the fabrication of silicon carbide composites (Si/SiC) mirrors with arbitrary structures. However, the insufficient performance of BJ-prepared Si/SiC, primarily due to high residual silicon (Si) content, limits its application. Here, graphite addition method was proposed to reduce the residual Si content through dual mechanisms. Performance enhancement mechanisms were revealed that graphite, as the self-lubricating phase, improves the flowability of raw powders, which facilitates to reduce the content and size of residual Si. Additionally, β-SiC was formed by the reaction of residual Si and carbon during reactive melt infiltration (RMI) process. The results show that the density of Si/SiC was increased by 5.99% and the residual Si content was decreased by 18.18%. Notably, the flexural strength, elastic modulus and thermal conductivity reached 268.37 MPa, 329.93 GPa and 127.01 W/(m·K), respectively. The dimensional deviations throughout the entire process were -0.11% in length, -0.49% in width, and +0.28% in height. Finally, high-performance Si/SiC mirrors with complex structure were fabricated. Furthermore, the shape accuracy and surface roughness of the Si/SiC mirror were 12.05 nm RMS and 0.772 nm RMS. Therefore, this work manifested the feasibility of graphite addition method for the performance enhancement of BJ additive manufacturing optical Si/SiC mirrors.
Published
, Published online: 28 March 2026
, doi: 10.37188/lam.2026.032
The absence of flexible fibres capable of delivering high-intensity mid-infrared ultrafast lasers (particularly at wavelengths exceeding 5 μm) without inducing pulse distortion or material damage constitutes a major limitation for numerous applications, including laser-based minimally invasive surgery, precision materials processing, and gas sensing. Herein, a tellurite glass anti-resonant hollow-core fibre is proposed that exhibits low transmission loss across the 5–10 μm band (~2 dB/m at 5.5–6 μm or 7.5–8 μm), robust bending resilience (minimum radius of 8 cm), and improved beam quality (output M2 reduced from 1.5 to 1.25). Notably, it facilitates the distortion-free delivery of ultrafast mid-infrared pulses from an optical parametric amplification system, without causing spectral broadening or material damage, at an input peak power of 16 MW. In a proof-of-concept demonstration, the developed fibre enables wavelength-selective ablation of biological adipose tissue at 5.75 μm, representing, to the best of our knowledge, the first such demonstration using tellurite hollow-core fibre platform. A record-wide operational bandwidth, extending to 10 μm, is achieved by leveraging the extended infrared edge of tellurite glass. This study confirms that tellurite anti-resonant hollow-core fibres can serve as groundbreaking tools in ultrafast mid-infrared photonics, offering significant potential for addressing challenges in invasive laser surgery, gas-phase spectroscopy, and non-linear optical studies.
Published
, Published online: 25 March 2026
, doi: 10.37188/lam.2026.024
The demand for compact, high-performance optical components has driven the development of increasingly sophisticated and miniaturized optical elements, often requiring complex and costly fabrication methods. In this work, we propose a cost-effective and accessible methodology for the fabrication of lenses and free-form optics using a commercially available stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer. A systematic characterization of six transparent photopolymer resins was conducted in terms of their spectroscopic, optical, and morphological properties, i.e., surface and dimensional properties. The evaluation encompassed parameters such as transmittance, autofluorescence, refractive index, and surface roughness. A straightforward and robust printing and post-treatment protocol was developed, facilitating the fabrication of optical components with over 80% transmittance, minimal intrinsic fluorescence, and a surface quality that is compatible with demanding optical applications. The fabricated components demonstrated excellent dimensional fidelity to digital designs and high reproducibility. To demonstrate the versatility of this approach, aspherical, miniaturized, and free-form lenses were designed and integrated into three fluorescence sensing systems, including oil (strip based) and chlorine (microfluidic based) detection platforms, as well as a smartphone-based SARSCoV-2 biosensor. The integration of customized 3D-printed optics has been shown to improve signal collection and readout performance, thereby highlighting the potential of this approach for broad application by a wide range of user groups in rapid prototyping and use in miniaturized optical systems. This work represents a significant advancement in the field of additive manufacturing, particularly in relation to the development of functional photonic devices. Furthermore, it opens new prospects for sensor applications in biosensing, microfluidics, imaging, and integrated optics.
Published
, Published online: 23 March 2026
, doi: 10.37188/lam.2026.031
To overcome the resolution and stability limitations of conventional grayscale lithography, we present a laser-nanoprinting-assisted technique for multilevel nanoscale phase encoding on a quartz substrate. The proposed approach combines femtosecond laser-based grayscale mask fabrication with multiparameter dry etching optimisation to achieve precise phase modulation with subwavelength resolution approximately 81 nm) and pixel sizes as small as 1 μm2. Up to eight discrete phase levels are supported, enabling efficient diffraction control and device-level functionality. Using this method, various integrated diffractive devices, including lenses, holograms, and diffractive neural networks (DNNs), were realised on quartz substrates. The fabricated structures exhibit high pattern fidelity, mechanical and chemical robustness, and compatibility with standard photonic integration platforms. Notably, a single-layer quartz-based DNN achieved a classification accuracy of 91.75% across four classes of handwritten digits. This nanoprinting-enabled strategy provides a scalable and stable pathway for fabricating compact, multifunctional, and high-resolution diffractive photonic devices.
Published
, Published online: 23 March 2026
, doi: 10.37188/lam.2026.009
Autofocus is essential for high-throughput real-time scanning in microscopic imaging. Traditional methods rely on complex hardware or iterative hill-climbing algorithms. Recent learning-based approaches exhibited remarkable efficacy in one-shot settings, circumventing the need for hardware modifications or iterative mechanical lens adjustments. However, in this study, we highlight a significant challenge wherein the richness of the image content can significantly affect autofocus performance. When the image content is sparse, previous autofocus methods, whether traditional hill-climbing or learning-based, tend to fail. To address this limitation, we propose a content-importance-based solution, termed "SparseFocus", featuring a novel two-stage pipeline. The first stage assesses the importance of the regions within the image, whereas the second stage calculates the defocus distance from the selected important regions. This approach can handle autofocus issues across all levels of content sparsity (dense, sparse, or extremely sparse). To validate our approach and benefit the research community, we acquire a large-scale dataset comprising millions of labelled, defocused images encompassing dense, sparse, and extremely sparse scenarios. The experimental results demonstrate that SparseFocus surpasses existing methods, effectively handling all levels of content sparsity. Moreover, we develop an advanced one-shot autofocus-enhanced whole-slide imaging system (osa-WSI) based on SparseFocus, coupled with an efficient image-stitching protocol for large-scale imaging and online motion path planning. The system demonstrates strong performance in real-world applications. All codes and datasets will be released upon publication.
Published
, Published online: 19 March 2026
, doi: 10.37188/lam.2026.004
The active manipulation of electromagnetic waves through electrical tuning of nanomaterials is a key advantage for modern technology. We employed the tunable optical response of ionic-liquid-gated single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films to address a major challenge in terahertz (THz) optics – the limited range of materials with suitable optical properties. In this study, we demonstrated a high-performance THz intensity modulator combined with a focusing Fresnel zone plate (FZP) integrated in electro-chemical cell. We introduce a new approach for designing and fabricating the FZP, based on pre-measured dielectric properties of SWCNT films under applied voltage. The superior shielding effectiveness (up to 8 × 108 dB cm2 g−1) of SWCNT films enables the creation of an ultrathin terahertz lens. Electrical gating doubled the minimum refractive index, enhancing lens performance. This also enabled in situ tunability of the intensity modulation depth, from +15 to –20%, with an applied voltage of +2 to –2 V. Although the current switching time is 3.6 seconds, our work presents the first demonstration of an electrochemically gated SWCNT FZP, offering distinct advantages in tunability and thin-film design. Operating at 327 GHz, this FZP is a promising solution for novel adaptive THz communication devices.
Published
, Published online: 16 March 2026
, doi: 10.37188/lam.2026.008
Additive manufacturing of glass with submicron resolution remains challenging due to the intrinsic hardness, brittleness, and weak light absorption of most glasses. Here, we demonstrate the laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) of substoichiometric solid-state silicon oxide (SiOx, x < 2) films for precise glass-on-glass printing. Using single-pulse 248 nm UV excimer laser irradiation and a custom-designed compression system, we achieve submicron donor−receiver gaps, enabling clean and crack-free transfer onto transparent substrates such as fused silica and borosilicate glass (BK7). In particular, the direct printing of SiOx onto fused silica substrates presents considerable challenges due to their high surface hardness and sensitivity to thermal stress. These factors often lead to poor adhesion and fragmentation of the transferred layers in conventional LIFT setups. We overcome these issues by implementing near-zero gap conditions and optimizing the laser fluence relative to the film thickness, enabling stable, residue-free transfer of SiOx onto fused silica. Systematic analysis reveals a strong dependence of transfer quality on both layer thickness and laser fluence, identifying a critical minimum thickness (~200 nm) and a narrow optimum fluence window. Furthermore, we use this approach to fabricate high-quality binary phase masks (BPMs) directly on glass, which exhibit well-defined π phase shifts and efficient diffraction under HeNe laser illumination. Post-deposition thermal oxidation transforms the transferred SiOx into fully transparent SiO2, making the structures suitable for UV optical applications. The resulting components demonstrate excellent mechanical robustness and resistance to standard cleaning procedures. This work establishes a solid-state pathway for fabricating functional glass-based micro-optical elements via LIFT.
Published
, Published online: 11 March 2026
, doi: 10.37188/lam.2026.007
Nanobubbles are typical nanodefects commonly existing in two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals materials such as transition metal dichalcogenides, especially after their transfer from growth substrate to target substrates. These nanobubbles, though tiny, may significantly alter the local electric, optoelectronic, thermal, or mechanical properties of 2D materials and therefore are rather detrimental to the constructed devices. However, there is no post-processing method so far that can effectively eliminate nanobubbles in 2D materials after their fabrication and transfer, which has been a major obstacle in the development of 2D material based devices. Here, we propose a principle, called laser optothermal nanobomb (LOTB), that can effectively flatten nanobubbles in 2D materials through a dynamic process of optothermally induced phase transition and stress-pulling effect in nanobubbles. Operation of LOTB on monolayer molybdenum disulfide (1L-MoS2) films shows that the surface roughness can be reduced by more than 70% on a time scale of ~50 ms, without damage to the intrinsic property of 1L-MoS2 as validated by micro-nano photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy. Moreover, a dual-beam cascaded LOTB and a multi-shot LOTB strategies are proposed to increase the flattened area and processing effect, showing the potential of LOTB for fast nanodefect repairing in the mass production of van der Waals materials and devices.
Published
, Published online: 03 March 2026
, doi: 10.37188/lam.2026.029
Mid-infrared (MIR) refractive index (RI) sensing holds significant potential for applications in chemical detection, environmental monitoring, and biomedical diagnostics due to the strong molecular vibrational fingerprints in this spectral range. However, conventional metasurface-based sensors face challenges in fabrication complexity, toxic solvents, and performance optimization. Here, we introduce ice-lithographed 2.5-dimensional (2.5D) plasmonic metasurfaces featuring vertically asymmetric gold cross-pillar resonators to overcome these challenges. The solvent-free ice lithography enables in situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM) alignment with high precision, residue-free surfaces, and multilayer stacking in a single vacuum process. Simulations reveal that vertically graded pillars (height 0–800 nm) linearly redshift resonance wavelengths while concentrating electric fields at analyte-binding sites, boosting experimentally measured sensitivity from 735 nanometers per refractive index unit (nm/RIU) to 2 266 nm/RIU. This work demonstrates a three-dimensional (3D) architectural strategy for enhancing sensing performance, while simultaneously unveiling the potential of ice lithography in fabricating low-toxicity and flexible 2.5D sensing devices.
Published
, Published online: 27 October 2025
, doi: 10.37188/lam.2025.075
Modern technologies have been heavily reliant on semiconductor chips driving their innovation. These nanoscale-featured devices have created the need for precise lithographic tools that enable the microscopic patterning of such features. With a large drive to keep the cost of lithography tools low while maintaining high resolution, recent works have explored alternate solutions to existing commercial tools. Therefore, this study investigates a low-cost photothermal lithography technique that utilizes a phase-change material to allow for high-resolution 200 nm features to be patterned. The technique we present in this work does not only provide a sidewall roughness of < 10 nm but also uses light-insensitive materials, allowing for delicate features to be patterned under non-restrictive environments. We present the theoretical limits of our laser writing system and demonstrate the experimentally achieved features, describing in detail how we overcome some of the diffraction and thermal limits in order to achieve ultimate resolution and sidewall roughness. This was achieved with near 100% yield as every patterned feature survived all stages of the sample processing with minimal defects.
- First
- Prev
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- Next
- Last
- Total:19
- To
- Go
Email
RSS