Microfluidic chips for guiding lights through micro polymeric channels injected with photopolymer liquids

Author

Guo-Wei Huang ; Chin-Tai Chen

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., Nat. Kaohsiung Univ. of Appl. Sci., Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Volume

7

Issue

11

fYear

2012

fDate

11/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1080

Lastpage

1083

Abstract

A new material applied in liquid-core waveguides made of polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) is reported. The microfluidic PDMS chips were moulded by a silicon wafer with a master pattern of photoresist SU-8. This new photopolymer material of Norland Optical Adhesive 89 (NOA 89) provides an optical index of refraction (n=1.51) higher than those of PDMS (n=1.41) and air (n=1), thereby significantly generating a total internal reflection through the fluidic channels and solidified structures. With three distinct geometries, the optical propagation losses of infrared light with wavelengths ranging from 1500-1550 nm were found to be =3.5=dB/cm (straight-line shape), =8.4=dB/cm (circular-bend shape) and =13.2=dB/cm (rectangular-bend shape), respectively.

Keywords

injection moulding; micro-optomechanical devices; microchannel flow; optical fabrication; optical losses; optical polymers; optical waveguides; photoresists; polymer solutions; reflectivity; refractive index; NOA 89; Norland optical adhesive 89; Si; circular-bend shape; infrared guiding light; liquid-core waveguides; microfluidic PDMS chips; micropolymeric channels; moulding; optical propagation losses; optical refraction index; photopolymer liquids; photoresist SU-8; polydimethysiloxane; rectangular-bend shape; silicon wafer; solidified structure; total internal reflection; wavelength 1500 nm to 1550 nm;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Micro & Nano Letters, IET

Publisher

iet

ISSN

1750-0443

Type

jour

DOI

10.1049/mnl.2012.0592

Filename

6409017