Abstract
Laser light excitation of fluorescent markers offers highly sensitive and specific analysis for bio-medical or chemical analysis. To profit from these advantages for applications in the field or at the point-of-care, a plastic lab-on-a-chip with integrated organic semiconductor lasers is presented here. First order distributed feedback lasers based on the organic semiconductor tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3) doped with the laser dye 4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyril)-4H-pyrane (DCM), deep ultraviolet induced waveguides, and a nanostructured microfluidic channel are integrated into a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrate. A simple and parallel fabrication process is used comprising thermal imprint, DUV exposure, evaporation of the laser material, and sealing by thermal bonding. The excitation of two fluorescent marker model systems including labeled antibodies with light emitted by integrated lasers is demonstrated.
Highlights
Specific and highly sensitive detection is a key ingredient for the realization of lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems for screening and bio-medical or chemical point-of-care analysis of fluids [1, 2]
The use of organic semiconductor lasers could combine the ease of processing of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) with favorable emission properties of a laser
We demonstrate that light of integrated lasers, coupled to waveguides, excites fluorescent markers in aqueous solution in a microfluidic channel
Summary
Specific and highly sensitive detection is a key ingredient for the realization of lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems for screening and bio-medical or chemical point-of-care analysis of fluids [1, 2] For these applications, optical analysis is most promising because of its high sensitivity and short response time [3,4,5]. The use of organic semiconductor lasers could combine the ease of processing of OLEDs with favorable emission properties of a laser For this reason, the integration of organic lasers in combination with passive polymer optics was investigated [10, 11]. The integration of organic lasers in combination with passive polymer optics was investigated [10, 11] In this manuscript, a plastic LOC platform with integrated first order distributed feedback (DFB) organic semiconductor lasers (OSLs), deep ultraviolet (DUV) induced waveguides and microfluidic channels is presented. The fabrication and characterization of exemplary chips of this platform used for fluorescence excitation are discussed
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