Abstract
Microfluidic channels and Bragg Grating Waveguides (BGWs) were simultaneously fabricated inside fused silica glass by means of femtosecond laser exposure followed by chemical etching. Evanescent field penetration of the waveguide mode into the parallel microfluidic channel induced Bragg resonant wavelength shifts to enable refractive index characterization of the fluidic medium in the 1 to 1.452 range. Laser exposure was optimized to fabricate devices with optically smooth channel walls and narrow Bragg resonances for high sensing response at 1560 nm wavelength. Reference gratings were also employed in the optical circuit for temperature and strain compensation. These devices open new directions for optical sensing in three-dimensional optofluidic and reactor microsystems.
Highlights
Lab-on-chip (LOC) devices are revolutionizing various fields, both in basic research and in clinical applications as a low-cost diagnostic tool
We present the first example of microfluidic channels and Bragg grating waveguides co-fabricated inside fused silica glass by means of femtosecond laser writing and chemical etching
This paper presents, to our best knowledge, the first example of integrating Bragg grating waveguides and microfluidic channels, both fabricated on a commercial fused silica glass substrate by means of femtosecond laser exposure and chemical etching
Summary
Lab-on-chip (LOC) devices are revolutionizing various fields, both in basic research and in clinical applications as a low-cost diagnostic tool. Gates et al recently extended the FBG sensor concept to LOCs by UV laser writing of Bragg grating waveguides (BGWs) within a photosensitive silica layer positioned to intersect surface microchannels [16] These integrated BGWs and microfluidics open more directions for developing highly functional and robust optofluidic microsystems without the packaging disadvantages of FBGs. embedded Bragg grating devices must be compensated for environment factors such as temperature and strain, and extension from planar to more flexible 3D systems is greatly desirable to permit more complex processing on a chip. These results present a new direction for optical sensing of gases, liquids, and biological media by novel 3D optofluidic microsystems made available by femtosecond laser processes
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