Towards efficient structure prediction and pre-compensation in multi-photon lithography: publisher's note.

This publisher's note contains a correction to [Opt. Express30, 28805 (2022)10.1364/OE.462775].

Functional Metallic Microcomponents via Liquid-Phase Multiphoton Direct Laser Writing: A Review.

We present an overview of functional metallic microstructures fabricated via direct laser writing out of the liquid phase. Metallic microstructures often are key components in diverse applications such as, e.g., microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Since the metallic component's functionality mostly depends on other components, a technology that enables on-chip fabrication of these metal structures is highly desirable. Direct laser writing via multiphoton absorption is such a fabrication method. In the past, it has mostly been used to fabricate multidimensional polymeric structures. However, during the last few years different groups have put effort into the development of novel photosensitive materials that enable fabrication of metallic-especially gold and silver-microstructures. The results of these efforts are summarized in this review and show that direct laser fabrication of metallic microstructures has reached the level of applicability.

Effect of disorder on the optically amplified photocatalytic efficiency of titania inverse opals.

Optically amplified photochemistry with slow photons has been realized in our previous work when a photoactive material such as TiO(2) was molded into a photonic crystal and the corresponding energy of photonic bands overlapped with the electronic excitation. While numerous applications of photonic crystals have been proposed, the real practicality depends on the extent of structural imperfection that can be tolerated before significant deterioration in the optical response deems it unrealistic to use. As a result, it is important to evaluate the amount of structural disorder that can be tolerated in inverse TiO(2) opals if they are to be used as amplified photocatalysts for photolytic degradation of organics in environmental remediation and water purification. We present a systematic study on the effect of disorder with relation to the photocatalytic efficiency of oxidizing methylene blue dye adsorbed on inverse TiO(2) opals by introducing different fractions and sizes of guest spheres into the opal template. Our results show that half of the enhancement originally achieved by the inverse opal made from monodispersed 150-nm spheres is conserved when the domain size of the host spheres remains above a critical threshold. The substitution fraction can be as high as 0.4 when the guest spheres are 1.2 times larger than the host spheres. Such a high tolerance to structural disorder provides strong support for the potential use of inverse TiO(2) opals in environmental cleanup and water treatment applications.