Experimental Demonstration of the Microprocessing of the Polystyrene Surface Using a Photonic Hook

Abstract

The formation of craters with the characteristics varying in the longitudinal and transverse directions at the laser microperforation of dielectric materials faces significant problems. In this work, a method have been proposed for the microstructuring of polystyrene as an example of polymeric materials involving laser photonic hooks and a low-cost cw laser. An optical fiber with an asymmetric conical tip has been used to form a photonic hook. Experiments demonstrate that curved microcraters with a shape depending on the power of laser radiation can be formed in a polymer substrate.