Optofluidics: The Marriage of Microfluidics with Integrated Optics

In recent years, the integration of microfluidic and micro-optical elements onto monolithic platforms has led to the term “optofluidics”. In particular, the use of integrated waveguides for sensing in microfluidic devices miniaturizes light delivery and detection while reducing the need for bulky instrumentation, the complication of alignment errors and sensitivity to mechanical vibrations.  In addition, the exploitation of the optical properties of fluids has the potential to revolutionize sensing and telecommunications by enabling reconfigurable light sources, light delivery, controls and switches.  This talk will present the design, fabrication and characterization of two optofluidic devices. The first is a three-dimensional Mach-Zehnder interferometer providing label-free, spatially-resolved sensing in a microfluidic channel.  The second is a parallel-geometry reconfigurable optofluidic switch.  Low-cost fabrication methods, such as embedding of fiber inside a polymer, as well as the more advanced technique of femtosecond laser micromachining (FLM) will be discussed.  Finally, the direction of future research will be summarized.