Pressure-induced bond-angle variation in amorphous SiO2

Underwater Transparent Miniature "Mechanical Hand" Based on Femtosecond Laser-Induced Controllable Oil-Adhesive Patterned Glass for Oil Droplet Manipulation

Development of underwater superoleophobic surfaces has captured the imagination of researchers because of their applications; especially, oil manipulation based on such surfaces has attracted much attention. Here, we show a simple and effective way to fabricate an underwater transparent miniature "mechanical hand" based on controllable oil-adhesive patterned glass using a femtosecond laser. The underwater oil-adhesive force of the patterned glasses that compose the "mechanical hand" device can be controlled from ultralow to ultrahigh by adjusting the ratio of the untreated flat glass area to the laser-ablated rough area. These surfaces also showed favorable transparency in water. Various oils such as chloroform, hexadecane, n-dodecane, decane, liquid paraffin, and petroleum ether were tested, and their repellency against the as-prepared surfaces in water medium was confirmed. Moreover, the "mechanical hand" was used to implement oil transportation, fusion, and rapid capture, which can be applied in the construction of microfluidic devices, in situ detectors, and bioreactors.

Rapid fabrication of a large-area close-packed quasi-periodic microlens array on BK7 glass

Large-area close-packed microlens arrays (MLAs) are highly desirable for structured light and integrated optical applications. However, efficient realization of ultralarge area MLAs with a high fill factor is still technically challenging, especially on glass material. In this Letter we propose a high-efficiency MLA fabrication method using single-pulsed femtosecond laser wet etch and close-packed quasi-periodic concave MLAs consisting of three million units fabricated on silica glass within an hour. The fabricated MLAs are demonstrated to have extreme optical smoothness (∼8.5 nm) by an atomic force microscope. It has also been demonstrated that the profile of the quasi-periodic concave structures could be easily tuned by changing the laser scanning speed or the pulse energy. Additionally, the optical performances of the MLA diffusers were investigated by using sharp focusing, high-resolution imaging, and flat-top illumination.

Inter-tetrahedra bond angle of permanently densified silicas extracted from their Raman spectra

Relative Raman scattering intensities are obtained in three samples of vitreous silica of increasing density. The variation of the intensity upon densification is very different for bending and stretching modes. For the former we find a Raman coupling-to-light coefficient [Formula: see text]. A comparative intensity and frequency dependence of the Raman spectral lines in the three glasses is performed. Provided the Raman spectra are normalized by C(B), there exists a simple relation between the Si-O-Si bond angle and the frequency of all O-bending motions, including those of fourfold (n=4) and threefold (n=3) rings. For 20% densification we find a reduction of ∼5.7° of the maximum of the network angle distribution, a value in very close agreement with previous NMR experiments. The threefold and fourfold rings are weakly perturbed by the densification, with a bond angle reduction of ∼0.5° for the former.

In situ high pressure and high temperature Raman studies of (1-x)SiO(2)xGeO(2) glasses

The structure of glasses in the binary system SiO(2)-GeO(2) has been studied by Raman spectroscopy. Our results are consistent with mixing of SiO(2) and GeO(2) tetrahedra. The changes induced by temperature and by pressure on the structure are monitored by in situ measurements on the same mixed glasses. Anomalous temperature dependences are observed not only for SiO(2) glass and GeO(2) glass but also for mixed glasses. Particular attention is focused on the pressure densification mechanism in mixed glasses. Via the pressure dependence of the width of the main Raman band, we show that the compression mechanism in mixed glasses is intermediate between that of the end members.

Intermediate-range order in permanently densified GeO2 glass

Information about the partial structure factors of densified GeO2 glass has been obtained from neutron and x-ray diffraction measurements. Densification causes a reduction in the length scale of the intermediate range order (IRO). The difference structure factors obtained by combining the x-ray and neutron data so as to eliminate one partial structure factor at a time shows the greatest effects when the Ge-Ge correlations are eliminated and least when O-O correlations are eliminated. This implies that the reduced length scale results from a decrease in the next-nearest neighbor Ge-O and O-O distance caused by a rotation about the Ge-O-Ge bonds and a distortion of the GeO4 tetrahedra.

Femtosecond laser-assisted three-dimensional microfabrication in silica

We demonstrate direct three-dimensional (3-D) microfabrication inside a volume of silica glass. The whole fabrication process was carried out in two steps:(i) writing of the preprogrammed 3-D pattern inside silica glass by focused femtosecond (fs) laser pulses and (ii) etching of the written structure in a 5% aqueous solution of HF acid. This technique allows fabrication of 3-D channels as small as 10mum in diameter inside the volume with any angle of interconnection and a high aspect ratio (10mum -diameter channels in a 100mum -thick silica slab).

Fluorine-doped SiO2 glasses for F2 excimer laser optics: fluorine content and color-center formation

Color-center formation in F-doped, OH-free synthetic SiO(2) glasses by irradiation with F(2) excimer lasers (157 nm) was examined as a function of the F content. The concentration of photoinduced E(') centers was reduced to approximately 1/20 by 1 mol.% F(2) doping and remained almost constant on further doping to 7.3 mol. %. The absorption edge was considerably shifted to a lower wavelength (157.4 nm -->153 nm for a 5-mm-thick sample) by 1-mol. % doping and decreased only slightly on further doping. The intensities of the Raman bands that are due to three- and four-membered ring structures were significantly reduced by 1-mol. % F doping. These results strongly suggest that elimination of strained Si-O-Si bonds by F doping plays a central role in the improvement of radiation resistance of SiO(2) glasses to F(2) laser light.

Photochemical processes induced by 157-nm light in H(2)-impregnated glassy SiO(2):OH

F(2) excimer-laser irradiation induces two major changes in SiO(2): OH glass impregnated with H(2) molecules. First, the vacuum-UV optical absorption edge is bleached, and the absorption at 157 nm decreases from 0.95 to 0.68 cm(-1) . Second, preexisting free SiOH groups and interstitial H(2) are photochemically converted to hydrogen-bonded hydroxyl groups. It is suggested that the bleaching of the UV-absorption edge is caused by a change of OH groups from a free to a hydrogen-bonded state and by photolysis of distorted Si-O bonds that are absorbing in the edge region.