Femtosecond laser micromachining for optofluidic and energy applications

•We explored femtosecond laser micromachining on different types of materials.•A fully embedded optofluidic sensing device has been realized in fused silica glass.•Surface texturing of silicon substrates was explored for possible photovoltaics and detection applications.

Femtosecond laser micromachining is a powerful and versatile tool both for the fabrication of photonic and optofluidic devices and for material surface processing. The basics of the technique will be discussed and some examples of applications will be presented. In particular, an optofluidic device for sensing applications, together with silicon surface texturing for applications in the fields of photovoltaic cells and photodetectors are discussed.