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Micromilling with nanoscale roughness for silica photonics

Micromilling with nanoscale roughness for silica photonics
Micromilling with nanoscale roughness for silica photonics
We present Flame Hydrolysis Deposition (FHD) silica micromilled with nanoscale surface roughness, sub-micron form control and micron scale depths of cut for photonic applications. Using our in-house developed high-precision micromill and industrially standard micromill tools, we have machined slots 1.5 mm long and 17 µm deep, enabling access and interaction with the evanescent field of nearby UV-written waveguides. Potential applications vary from: biological sensing, plasmonic devices, refractometers and chemical sensing. The micromilling approach offers advantages over conventional cleanroom and laser-based machining of optical materials in both form control and achievable surface roughness. To assess optimum cutting conditions a wide parameter test was conducted, where the rotational and translational speeds were varied and feed speeds optimized to allow cutting in the high-quality low-chipping ductile regime. Whilst milling in the ductile regime our smoothest form slots had a surface roughness of 3.0 nm (Sa) at a 17.0µm depth of cut. This represents a forty times increase in cut depth and an eight times improvement in surface roughness over previously reported silica slot micromilling. We will present our latest machining results with studies into sequential slot milling and report on the subsequent slot form, surface roughness, and mill wear from prolonged sequential machining. We will also show results of integrating milled slots with optical waveguides and Bragg gratings to create refractometer devices.
Carpenter, L.G.
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Cooper, P.A.
29354b98-c117-4ace-9ca4-1d3ad531485f
Holmes, C.
16306bb8-8a46-4fd7-bb19-a146758e5263
Gawith, C.B.E.
926665c0-84c7-4a1d-ae19-ee6d7d14c43e
Gates, J.C.
b71e31a1-8caa-477e-8556-b64f6cae0dc2
Smith, P.G.R.
8979668a-8b7a-4838-9a74-1a7cfc6665f6
Carpenter, L.G.
0daa548e-0d42-4b06-b914-45bfbec41759
Cooper, P.A.
29354b98-c117-4ace-9ca4-1d3ad531485f
Holmes, C.
16306bb8-8a46-4fd7-bb19-a146758e5263
Gawith, C.B.E.
926665c0-84c7-4a1d-ae19-ee6d7d14c43e
Gates, J.C.
b71e31a1-8caa-477e-8556-b64f6cae0dc2
Smith, P.G.R.
8979668a-8b7a-4838-9a74-1a7cfc6665f6

Carpenter, L.G., Cooper, P.A., Holmes, C., Gawith, C.B.E., Gates, J.C. and Smith, P.G.R. (2015) Micromilling with nanoscale roughness for silica photonics. SPIE Photonics West '15, , San Francisco, United States. 07 - 12 Feb 2015.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

We present Flame Hydrolysis Deposition (FHD) silica micromilled with nanoscale surface roughness, sub-micron form control and micron scale depths of cut for photonic applications. Using our in-house developed high-precision micromill and industrially standard micromill tools, we have machined slots 1.5 mm long and 17 µm deep, enabling access and interaction with the evanescent field of nearby UV-written waveguides. Potential applications vary from: biological sensing, plasmonic devices, refractometers and chemical sensing. The micromilling approach offers advantages over conventional cleanroom and laser-based machining of optical materials in both form control and achievable surface roughness. To assess optimum cutting conditions a wide parameter test was conducted, where the rotational and translational speeds were varied and feed speeds optimized to allow cutting in the high-quality low-chipping ductile regime. Whilst milling in the ductile regime our smoothest form slots had a surface roughness of 3.0 nm (Sa) at a 17.0µm depth of cut. This represents a forty times increase in cut depth and an eight times improvement in surface roughness over previously reported silica slot micromilling. We will present our latest machining results with studies into sequential slot milling and report on the subsequent slot form, surface roughness, and mill wear from prolonged sequential machining. We will also show results of integrating milled slots with optical waveguides and Bragg gratings to create refractometer devices.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: February 2015
Venue - Dates: SPIE Photonics West '15, , San Francisco, United States, 2015-02-07 - 2015-02-12
Organisations: Optoelectronics Research Centre

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 375158
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/375158
PURE UUID: ba49f9e1-4ec5-462f-99cb-f50f4a104c0e
ORCID for C. Holmes: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9021-3760
ORCID for C.B.E. Gawith: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3502-3558
ORCID for J.C. Gates: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8671-5987
ORCID for P.G.R. Smith: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0319-718X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 13 Mar 2015 13:52
Last modified: 12 Dec 2021 03:35

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Contributors

Author: L.G. Carpenter
Author: P.A. Cooper
Author: C. Holmes ORCID iD
Author: C.B.E. Gawith ORCID iD
Author: J.C. Gates ORCID iD
Author: P.G.R. Smith ORCID iD

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