Refractometry of organosilica microspheres

The refractive index of novel organosilica (nano/micro)material is determined using two methods. The first method is based on analysis of optical extinction efficiency of organosilica beads versus wavelength, which is obtained by a standard laboratory spectrometer. The second method relies on the measurable trapping potential of these beads in the focused light beam (laser tweezers). Polystyrene beads were used to test these methods, and the determined dispersion curves of refractive index values have been found accurate. The refractive index of organosilica beads has been determined to range from 1.60-1.51 over the wavelength range of 300-1100 nm.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Material Limitations on the Detection Limit in Refractometry

We discuss the detection limit for refractometric sensors relying on high-Q optical cavities and show that the ultimate classical detection limit is given by min{Dn} > eta with n+i*eta being the complex refractive index of the material under refractometric investigation. Taking finite Q factors and filling fractions into account, the detection limit declines. As an example we discuss the fundamental limits of silicon-based high-Q resonators, such as photonic crystal resonators, for sensing in a bio-liquid environment, such as a water buffer. In the transparency window of silicon the detection limit becomes almost independent on the filling fraction, while in the visible, the detection limit depends strongly on the filling fraction because silicon absorbs strongly.Comment: Published in Special Issue "Laser Spectroscopy and Sensing", Edited by Prof. M.W. Sigris

Reversion scheme for droplet parameters with rainbow refractometry based on Debye theory

This paper was presented at the 3rd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2011), which was held at the Makedonia Palace Hotel, Thessaloniki in Greece. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Thessaly, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute.Rainbow refractometry is a non-intrusive technology for determining the refractive index and diameter of droplet simultaneously. Most of the present schemes for the refractive index and diameter of droplet are based on empirical formulas with Airy theory. However, the anti-noise capability and the generality of the empirical method are weak. In the paper, an objective function was designed to quantify the deviation between the low frequency component of the captured rainbow and the simulated rainbow with Debye (p=2) theory. Further, a novel inversion scheme for single droplet based on Debye (p=2) theory and the objective function was proposed. Experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance of the scheme. Results indicate that the relative error of the radius is less than 8%, the absolute error of the refractive index is better than 5×10-4.Research Award Program for Outstanding Young Teachers in Southeast University (No.3203001202) and QingLan Project (No.1103000126)

Liquid-infiltrated photonic crystals - enhanced light-matter interactions for lab-on-a-chip applications

Optical techniques are finding widespread use in analytical chemistry for chemical and bio-chemical analysis. During the past decade, there has been an increasing emphasis on miniaturization of chemical analysis systems and naturally this has stimulated a large effort in integrating microfluidics and optics in lab-on-a-chip microsystems. This development is partly defining the emerging field of optofluidics. Scaling analysis and experiments have demonstrated the advantage of micro-scale devices over their macroscopic counterparts for a number of chemical applications. However, from an optical point of view, miniaturized devices suffer dramatically from the reduced optical path compared to macroscale experiments, e.g. in a cuvette. Obviously, the reduced optical path complicates the application of optical techniques in lab-on-a-chip systems. In this paper we theoretically discuss how a strongly dispersive photonic crystal environment may be used to enhance the light-matter interactions, thus potentially compensating for the reduced optical path in lab-on-a-chip systems. Combining electromagnetic perturbation theory with full-wave electromagnetic simulations we address the prospects for achieving slow-light enhancement of Beer-Lambert-Bouguer absorption, photonic band-gap based refractometry, and high-Q cavity sensing.Comment: Invited paper accepted for the "Optofluidics" special issue to appear in Microfluidics and Nanofluidics (ed. Prof. David Erickson). 11 pages including 8 figure