High-Uniformity Submicron Gratings with Tunable Periods Fabricated through Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Molding Technology for Deformation Detection

As one of the important diffractive optical elements, the submicron gratings on flexible substrates can actively and precisely control the dispersion and steering characteristics of beams and have been widely applied in deformation detection technologies. Herein, we propose a spatially modulated femtosecond laser-assisted molding technology for efficiently fabricating high-uniformity large-area submicron gratings with tunable periods on flexible substrates. The technology first uses a cylindrically focused femtosecond laser-assisted chemical etching method to form a regular submicron grating on silicon; subsequently, the structure is cast with polydimethylsiloxane, a useful flexible substrate with a small Young's modulus, and cured to obtain a high-uniformity large-area submicron grating with a tunable period. The grating exhibits high mechanical stability and sensitivity and favorable optical properties. In the present study, as the deformation of the grating increased from 0 to 10%, the diffraction angle changed by 6.5°. Under illumination by a broad-band white-light source, distinguishable multicolor diffraction patterns were clearly observed. Drawing on this characteristic, we fabricated a deformation sensor. The grating fabricated by using the proposed technology also has potential applications in optical sensors and soft robots.