Application of glass 3D printing using direct laser melting for fabrication of photonic sensors

In this paper, we report our recent research progresses on the design, fabrication and characterization of photonic sensors for harsh environment applications, with the help of novel Integrated Additive and Subtractive Manufacturing (IASM) system. Glass 3D printing with direct laser melting process in this IASM system presents the dimension accuracy on the order of tens or hundreds of microns. The addition of laser micromachining allows the fabrication of structures with micron dimension accuracy, showing the unique advantage of IASM system in high dimensional accuracy compared with traditional 3D printing process. A number of photonic sensors and devices will be summarized and presented, including (1) 3D printed all-glass fiber-optic pressure sensor for high temperature applications, (2) Information integrated glass module fabricated by IASM and (3) IASM for microfluidic pressure sensor fabrication.