Optofluidic waveguides: II. Fabrication and structures

Cavity-enhanced on-chip absorption spectroscopy using microring resonators

We demonstrate on-chip laser absorption spectroscopy using silicon microring resonators integrated with PDMS microfluidic channels. A 100 microm radius microring resonator with Q > 100,000 is used to enhance the interaction length between evanescent light and a cladding liquid. We measure absorption spectra of less than 2 nL of N-methylaniline from 1460 nm to 1610 nm with 1 nm resolution and effective free space path lengths up to 5 mm. This work can help realize a completely on-chip spectroscopy device for lab-on-a-chip applications.

Hollow-core waveguide characterization by optically induced particle transport

We introduce a method for optical characterization of hollow-core optical waveguides. Radiation pressure exerted by the waveguide modes on dielectric microspheres is used to analyze salient properties such as propagation loss and waveguide mode profiles. These quantities were measured for quasi-single-mode and multimode propagation in on-chip liquid-filled hollow-core antiresonant reflecting optical waveguides. Excellent agreement with analytical and numerical models is found, demonstrating that optically induced particle transport provides a simple, inexpensive, and nondestructive alternative to other characterization methods.