Printing Nanostructure Holograms on Contact Lenses via Direct Laser Ablation

Commercially available hydrogel-based soft contact lenses are extensively used for cosmetic or vision correction purposes. Such lenses are typically manufactured from tailored hydrogel composites, with high water contents for comfort, softness and oxygen permeability. Our research group has achieved the fabrication of nanostructures on these hydrogels-based soft commercial contact lenses. This challenging task of producing nanostructures on a soft, fragile, hydrated, and curved surface of a contact lens was achieved through the usage of holographic laser ablation. Self-interference of a pulsed nanosecond laser was used to selectively ablate the absorbing media placed on the contact lenses surface. These nanostructures act as optical transducers and they can be used for sensing various parameters on the ocular surfaces, paving the way forward for smart contact lenses.