{"id":193,"date":"2018-08-24T19:52:25","date_gmt":"2018-08-24T19:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.carleton.edu\/mbaylor\/?page_id=193"},"modified":"2020-07-23T15:40:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T15:40:09","slug":"what-is-an-integrated-optofluidic-device","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php\/what-is-an-integrated-optofluidic-device\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an Integrated Optofluidic Device?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the name suggests, integrated opto-fluidic devices combine optical component and microfluidic components together into the same device. Typically these devices fall into two categories. They either use the light to measure a property of the fluid (e.g., the index of refraction or the optical spectrum) or the fluid is used to tune the some property of the light (e.g., shift the wavelength or change the direction of the light path).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An example of an integrated optofluidic device is a refractometer. A refractometer is used to measure the index of refraction of a fluid. A schematic of this device is shown below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Figure1_RefractometerA-1qphg8s.jpg\" alt=\"Schematic of the Simplest Optofluidic Device: A Refractometer. This device is used to measure the index of refraction of fluids.\" class=\"wp-image-181\" width=\"455\" height=\"228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Figure1_RefractometerA-1qphg8s.jpg 989w, https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Figure1_RefractometerA-1qphg8s-300x151.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Figure1_RefractometerA-1qphg8s-768x387.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px\" \/><figcaption>Schematic of the Simplest Optofluidic Device: A Refractometer. This device is used to measure the index of refraction of fluids.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Laser light is coupled into a waveguide, that acts like a fiber optic cable controlling the path of the light. As the laser light hits the channel containing the fluid, the light will scatter depending on the index of refraction of the fluid. The scattering sends light out of the path of the waveguide and decreasing the intensity of light captured on the opposite side of the channel. The light captured in the second waveguide is sent to a detector to record the intensity. If the detector has been calibrated, you can match the measured intensity to a specific index of refraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why is this useful? The index of refraction of some liquids depends on the concentration of components in it. For example the index of refraction of sugar water or salt water depends on the concentration of sugar or salt in the water. Therefore, as an example, this device can be used to measure the sugar concentration of grapes in a wine vineyard in order to know when they are ready to harvest. Since the device is small, it can measure tiny volumes of liquid (e.g., micro-liters) in the field rather than in a lab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the name suggests, integrated opto-fluidic devices combine optical component and microfluidic components together into the same device. Typically these devices fall into two categories. They either use the light to measure a property of the fluid (e.g., the index of refraction or the optical spectrum) or the fluid is used to tune the some <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php\/what-is-an-integrated-optofluidic-device\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-193","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427,"href":"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/193\/revisions\/427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbaylor.people.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}