Bio-Inspired Band-Gap Tunable Elastic Optical Multilayer Fibers

Engineering and Applied Science

Opto-fluidically multiplexed assembly and micro-robotics.

Acknowledgements: We acknowledge funding by the Max Planck Society, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge. MK further acknowledges support by the European Research Council, in particular the ERC Starting Grant GHOSTs (Grant No. 853619) and the Hector Foundation. MK and EE acknowledge support by the Volkswagen Foundation (Life! Grant No. 92772). Additionally, the Kreysing lab is co-funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – 2082/1 – 390761711 and Research Grant 515462906. We also acknowledge support by the Karlsruhe School of Optics & Photonics (KSOP). WL gratefully acknowledges funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC studentship). We thank Nicola Maghelli from the Advanced Imaging Facility and Sergei Klykov from the Scientific Computing Facility at MPI-CBG for software support in LabVIEW and Python. We kindly acknowledge the help of Gayathri Nadar and HongKee Moon from the Scientific Computing Facility at MPI-CBG with reconstruction of the target coordinates for the humanoid robots (Fig. 4e). We also thank Franziska Friedrich from the Media Technologies and Outreach Facility at MPI-CBG for her support. MK and EE thank Michael Schlierf (B CUBE, TU Dresden), Benjamin Seelbinder, Iliya D. Stoev, Susan Wagner and Christoph Zechner (all MPI-CBG Dresden) for stimulating discussions. We thank Iain Patten for valuable discussions on the structure and layout of the manuscript. We thank Núria Taberner from VIZCIE for creating the conceptual 3D-visualization of our technique in Fig. 1a.Funder: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Max Planck Society); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100004189Funder: Helmholtz Association; doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100009318Funder: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/100009133Funder: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology | Helmholtz International Research School for Teratronics, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (Helmholtz International Research School for Teratronics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100009484Funder: RCUK | Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000269Funder: University of Cambridge; doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000735Techniques for high-definition micromanipulations, such as optical tweezers, hold substantial interest across a wide range of disciplines. However, their applicability remains constrained by material properties and laser exposure. And while microfluidic manipulations have been suggested as an alternative, their inherent capabilities are limited and further hindered by practical challenges of implementation and control. Here we show that the iterative application of laser-induced, localized flow fields can be used for the relative positioning of multiple micro-particles, irrespectively of their material properties. Compared to the standing theoretical proposal, our method keeps particles mobile, and we show that their precision manipulation is non-linearly accelerated via the multiplexing of temperature stimuli below the heat diffusion limit. The resulting flow fields are topologically rich and mathematically predictable. They represent unprecedented microfluidic control capabilities that are illustrated by the actuation of humanoid micro-robots with up to 30 degrees of freedom, whose motions are sufficiently well-defined to reliably communicate personal characteristics such as gender, happiness and nervousness. Our results constitute high-definition micro-fluidic manipulations with transformative potential for assembly, micro-manufacturing, the life sciences, robotics and opto-hydraulically actuated micro-factories

Opto-fluidically multiplexed assembly and micro-robotics

Abstract Techniques for high-definition micromanipulations, such as optical tweezers, hold substantial interest across a wide range of disciplines. However, their applicability remains constrained by material properties and laser exposure. And while microfluidic manipulations have been suggested as an alternative, their inherent capabilities are limited and further hindered by practical challenges of implementation and control. Here we show that the iterative application of laser-induced, localized flow fields can be used for the relative positioning of multiple micro-particles, irrespectively of their material properties. Compared to the standing theoretical proposal, our method keeps particles mobile, and we show that their precision manipulation is non-linearly accelerated via the multiplexing of temperature stimuli below the heat diffusion limit. The resulting flow fields are topologically rich and mathematically predictable. They represent unprecedented microfluidic control capabilities that are illustrated by the actuation of humanoid micro-robots with up to 30 degrees of freedom, whose motions are sufficiently well-defined to reliably communicate personal characteristics such as gender, happiness and nervousness. Our results constitute high-definition micro-fluidic manipulations with transformative potential for assembly, micro-manufacturing, the life sciences, robotics and opto-hydraulically actuated micro-factories

Bi-phase emulsion droplets as dynamic fluid optical systems

Micro-scale optical components play a critical role in many applications, in particular when these components are capable of dynamically responding to different stimuli with a controlled variation of their optical behavior. Here, we discuss the potential of micro-scale bi-phase emulsion droplets as a material platform for dynamic fluid optical components. Such droplets act as liquid compound micro-lenses with dynamically tunable focal lengths. They can be reconfigured to focus or scatter light and form images. In addition, we discuss how these droplets can be used to create iridescent structural color with large angular spectral separation. Experimental demonstrations of the emulsion droplet optics are complemented by theoretical analysis and wave-optical modelling. Finally, we provide evidence of the droplets utility as fluidic optical elements in potential application scenarios

Bi-phase emulsion droplets as dynamic fluid optical systems

Micro-scale optical components play a critical role in many applications, in particular when these components are capable of dynamically responding to different stimuli with a controlled variation of their optical behavior. Here, we discuss the potential of micro-scale bi-phase emulsion droplets as a material platform for dynamic fluid optical components. Such droplets act as liquid compound micro-lenses with dynamically tunable focal lengths. They can be reconfigured to focus or scatter light and form images. In addition, we discuss how these droplets can be used to create iridescent structural color with large angular spectral separation. Experimental demonstrations of the emulsion droplet optics are complemented by theoretical analysis and wave-optical modelling. Finally, we provide evidence of the droplets utility as fluidic optical elements in potential application scenarios

Biobeam—Multiplexed wave-optical simulations of light-sheet microscopy

<div><p>Sample-induced image-degradation remains an intricate wave-optical problem in light-sheet microscopy. Here we present <i>biobeam</i>, an open-source software package that enables simulation of operational light-sheet microscopes by combining data from 10⁵–10⁶ multiplexed and GPU-accelerated point-spread-function calculations. The wave-optical nature of these simulations leads to the faithful reproduction of spatially varying aberrations, diffraction artifacts, geometric image distortions, adaptive optics, and emergent wave-optical phenomena, and renders image-formation in light-sheet microscopy computationally tractable.</p></div