Fluorescent liquid-core/air-cladding waveguides towards integrated optofluidic light sources

Abstract

We have demonstrated fluorescent liquid-core/air-cladding (LA) waveguides suitable for use as integrated optofluidic light sources. These waveguides were fabricated by conventional soft lithography using poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). Two-phase stratified flows of air and ethylene glycol with fluorescent dye were generated along the PDMS channel. Compared to the liquid-core/liquid-cladding (L-2) waveguide, the larger refractive index contrast of the LA waveguide resulted in stronger optical confinement. Specifically, the larger refractive index contrast led to experimentally achievable captured fractions (the amount of light to be coupled into the liquid core) as high as 22.8% and the measured propagation losses as low as 0.14 dB cm(-1). Furthermore, in our LA waveguides, diffusional mixing of the core and cladding fluids did not occur and the size of the core stream could be reversibly tuned simply by adjusting the flow rates of the two contiguous phases.