Fabrication of high-aspect-ratio structures using Bessel-beam-activated photopolymerization

Microfabrication based on photopolymerization is typically achieved by scanning a focal spot within the material point by point, which significantly limits fabrication speed. In this paper, we explore a method for rapid fabrication of high-aspect-ratio microstructures based on photopolymerization using a femtosecond laser beam that is converted into a Bessel beam by an axicon. With stationary exposure, a polymer fiber measured at 200 μm in length and 400 nm in width (500∶1 aspect ratio) was fabricated within 50 ms of exposure time. The exposure conditions can be adjusted to produce fibers with variable widths. A phenomenological polymerization-threshold model is adapted for Bessel-beam exposure. The revised model is applied to analyze the structure width and estimate the order of multi-photon absorption. Examination of the cross section of the fibers shows that they are nearly monolithic, suggesting that active species diffuse during photopolymerization. By scanning the Bessel beam in the plane transverse to the direction of beam propagation, mesh structures are fabricated with a single-pass scan, showing the potential of this method for rapid fabrication of large-scale high-aspect-ratio microstructures for applications in photonics, micro-machines, and tissue engineering.