De-coherent parallel laser processing of ultradense nanopores for high-density, large-area 3D optical phase encoding
Single-beam femtosecond laser pulses can surpass the diffraction limit of conventional focusing systems, enabling deep sub-waveguide single-spot modifications via nonlinear absorption at the focus. However, extending this capability to multi-beam parallel processing has been fundamentally limited by the diffraction limit (~λ/2). Herein, we experimentally and theoretically clarify that this limitation stems from spatial coherence and temporal sequence interference, inducing laser-matter interaction crosstalk, non-uniform modifications, and sparse duty-cycle structures. To address this, we propose a de-coherent parallel direct laser writing (Dc-PDLW) strategy, utilizing a patterned single pulse together with a de-coherent holographic algorithm (SSP-BM) to ensure multi-foci polarization orthogonality and eliminate spatial coherence. This method achieves single-shot fabrication of ultra-dense nanopore arrays, with 300 nm (~λ/4) resolution in crystals. We further demonstrate centimeter-scale 3D Pancharatnam-Berry phase plates and voluminous cipher sequences, realizing high-density 3D phase and polarization coding.
Authors
- Lijing Zhong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7567-8359)
- Jianrong Qiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2733-0224)
- Zhendi Jiang
- Jiacheng Hu
- Yueqiang Zhu
- Wei Zhao
- Jie Zhang
Institutions
- Ningbo University (CN)
- Ningbo University of Technology (CN)
- Northwest University (CN)
- Photonic Science (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-01-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67828-9
- Primary Topic
- Laser Material Processing Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Zhejiang University
- Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province