Material Processing with 12 Femtosecond Picojoule Laser Pulses

Extremely short near infrared laser pulses (e.g. 10 fs) offer the possibility of precise sub-100nm processing without collateral side effects. Furthermore, the can be employed to excite a variety of absorbers simultaneously due to their broad 100 nm emission band. We demonstrate two-photon fluorescence imaging of green and red fluorescent proteins in living cells as well as two-photon nanolithography with 12 fs laser pulses (750-850 nm) at low microwatt mean power using an 85 MHz laser resonator. At a minimum of 400 mu W mean power, direct nanoprocessing in blood cells was realized. Multiphoton ablation in biological specimens follows a P-2/tau relation. We were able to create sub-100nm ripples in silicon wafers, to cut glass, gold, and polymers as well as to create transient nanoholes in the membranes of living stem cells and cancer cells for targeted transfection.