Two-photon photopolymerization and diagnosis of three-dimensional microstructures containing fluorescent dyes

We report in this letter two-photon-absorption photopolymerization using fluorescent dye-doped resin, by which complex fluorescence-active three-dimensional (3D) microstructures were readily produced. Structures were imaged by means of two-photon confocal techniques. The realization of dye-doping photopolymerization would be an important step towards production of photonic-crystal-based high-efficiency polymer optoelectronic devices. Furthermore, we found that the doped dye acted as label molecules to stain solidified structures, which provided an effective two-photon fluorescence technique for internal microdiagnosis of polymerized 3D microstructures. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.