Journal article
Fiber‐free coupling between bulk laser beams and on‐chip polymer‐based multimode waveguides
Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark1
NSE-Optofluidics Group, NanoSystemsEngineering Section, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark2
NanoSystemsEngineering Section, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark3
In this paper, we demonstrate the design of a virtually alignment‐free optical setup for use with microfluidic applications involving a layered glass/SU‐8/PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) chip. We show how inexpensive external lenses combined with carefully designed on‐chip lenses can be used to couple light from a bulk beam to on‐chip waveguides and back into a bulk beam again.
Using this setup, as much as 20% of the light coming from the source can be retrieved after passing through the on‐chip waveguides. The proposed setup is based on a pin‐aided alignment system that makes it possible to change chips in the optical train in only a few seconds with a standard deviation of about 2% in the transmitted power.
Furthermore, we demonstrate how these optical setups can be combined with microfluidics to create an on‐chip flow cytometer enabling detection and counting of polystyrene particles down to 1 μm at a rate of 100 Hz.
Language: | English |
---|---|
Publisher: | WILEY‐VCH Verlag |
Year: | 2011 |
Pages: | 1224-1232 |
ISSN: | 15222683 and 01730835 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1002/elps.201000593 |