Issue 3, 2008

Dynamically reconfigurable liquid-core liquid-cladding lens in a microfluidic channel

Abstract

This paper describes the design and operation of a liquid-core liquid-cladding (L2) lens formed by the laminar flow of three streams of liquids in a microchannel whose width expands laterally in the region where the lens forms. Two streams of liquid with a lower refractive index (the cladding) sandwich a stream of liquid with a higher refractive index (the core). As the core stream enters the expansion chamber, it widens and becomes biconvex in shape, for some rates of flow. This biconvex fluidic element focuses light. Manipulating the relative rates of flow of the streams reconfigures the shape, and therefore the focal distance, of the L2 lens. This paper also describes a technique for beam tracing, and for characterization of a lens in an enclosed micro-scale optical system. The use of a cladding liquid with refractive index matched to that of the material used in the fabrication of the microfluidic system (here, poly(dimethylsiloxane)) improves the quality of the focused beam.

Graphical abstract: Dynamically reconfigurable liquid-core liquid-cladding lens in a microfluidic channel

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 Nov 2007
Accepted
14 Dec 2007
First published
14 Jan 2008

Lab Chip, 2008,8, 395-401

Dynamically reconfigurable liquid-core liquid-cladding lens in a microfluidic channel

S. K. Y. Tang, C. A. Stan and G. M. Whitesides, Lab Chip, 2008, 8, 395 DOI: 10.1039/B717037H

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