PDMS-based microfluidic lasers using whispering gallery modes for lab-on-a-chip applications

Jonathan D. Suter; Daniel J. Howard; Eric Hoppmann; Ian M. White; Xudong Fan

doi:10.1117/12.845616

17 February 2010 PDMS-based microfluidic lasers using whispering gallery modes for lab-on-a-chip applications

Jonathan D. Suter, Daniel J. Howard, Eric Hoppmann, Ian M. White, Xudong Fan

Proceedings Volume 7579, Laser Resonators and Beam Control XII; 75790Y (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.845616
Event: SPIE LASE, 2010, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Microfluidic lasers, which utilize liquid as a gain medium, are of great interest for lab-on-a-chip devices due to their small size, tunability, and cost-effectiveness. We demonstrate a soft-lithography-based opto-fluidic ring resonator (OFRR) laser which can be produced in arrays of identical rings in polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS). The PDMS structures are produced from a silicon mold fabricated using reactive ion etching (RIE) and are both robust and reusable. Using rhodamine 6G in a tetraethylene glycol (TEG) dye solvent provides enough refractive index contrast with PDMS to generate a multimode lasing signal from rings 200 to 400 microns in diameter and lasing thresholds of 2.7 μJ/mm² centered around 580 nm. These rings are coupled to liquid waveguides which conveniently direct the lasing emission to other on-chip devices. Since the rings and waveguides are not in fluidic contact, many rings may potentially be coupled into a single waveguide for multi-color emission. Separating the ring and waveguide fluidics also prevents unwanted absorption of the lasing signal by extra dye molecules.

Citation Download Citation

Jonathan D. Suter, Daniel J. Howard, Eric Hoppmann, Ian M. White, and Xudong Fan "PDMS-based microfluidic lasers using whispering gallery modes for lab-on-a-chip applications", Proc. SPIE 7579, Laser Resonators and Beam Control XII, 75790Y (17 February 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.845616

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