Femtosecond laser micromachining in the conjugated polymer MEH–PPV

Femtosecond-laser micromachining of poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene] films is investigated using 130 fs pulses at 800 nm from a laser oscillator operating at 76 MHz repetition rate. We investigate the effect of pulse energy and translation speed on the depth and morphology of the micromachined regions. We quantified the MEH–PPV photobleaching induced by the fs-laser, and the conditions in which the emission of MEH–PPV is preserved after the micromaching.