Recent developments in the use of two-photon polymerization in precise 2D and 3D microfabrications

The use of two-photon polymerization (TPP) initiated by a photosensitizer's non-linear two-photon absorption in two- and three-dimensional (213 and 313) microfabrications for various photonic applications has been intensively studied. Since TPP emerged as a new technology over a decade ago, a large variety of micro-objects including 3D micro-optical components, micromechanical devices, and 3D photonic crystals have been fabricated using TPP with a high spatial resolution of approximately submicron scale to 100nm. Recent efforts have been made to improve the fabrication efficiency and precision of micro-objects obtained with TPP; in particular, many studies have been carried out with the aim of developing efficient two-photon absorbing chromophores. In this article, efforts to develop highly efficient two-photon absorbing materials and also describe recent attempts to enhance the resolution and improve the fabrication efficiency of nanofabrications based on two-photon polymerization are discussed. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.