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Fiber‐free coupling between bulk laser beams and on‐chip polymer‐based multimode waveguides
Author(s) -
Jensen Thomas G.,
Nielsen Lars B.,
Kutter Jörg P.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.201000593
Subject(s) - polydimethylsiloxane , materials science , chip , multi mode optical fiber , lab on a chip , microfluidics , optical power , optical fiber , optics , coupling (piping) , optoelectronics , laser , beam (structure) , polystyrene , photonics , polymer , nanotechnology , physics , computer science , telecommunications , metallurgy , composite material
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.