Microfluidic optical switching device and method
AssigneeAMO Wavefront Sciences, LLC
InventorDevon E. Reid
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Improved systems and methods for optical switching are provided. These devices and methods can be used to improve the effectiveness of a wide variety of different optical systems and techniques. One embodiment provides a device and method for optical switching using a microfluidic chamber and droplets of liquid. Specifically, the droplets of liquid are controllably passed through the microfluidic chamber to switch the passing of light between different optical outputs. Thus, the optical switch can switch the light from one output to another by controllably passing droplets of liquid through the microfluidic chamber.
Claims27
A microfluidic optical switch, comprising:
- a microfluidic chamber;
- an optical input coupled to the microfluidic chamber;
- a plurality of optical outputs coupled to the microfluidic chamber;
- and
- an inlet coupled to the microfluidic chamber, the inlet configured to controllably pass a series of individual droplets of a first liquid into the microfluidic chamber, with each droplet separated from other of the series of individual droplets of the first liquid,
- wherein the microfluidic chamber, the optical input, and the plurality of optical outputs are configured such that light entering the microfluidic chamber from the optical input passes to a first of the plurality of optical outputs when a droplet of the first liquid is in the microfluidic chamber and passes to a second of the plurality of optical outputs when a droplet of the first liquid is not in the microfluidic chamber.
A microfluidic optical switch, comprising:
- a microfluidic chamber;
- an optical input coupled to the microfluidic chamber;
- a first optical output coupled to the microfluidic chamber;
- a second optical output coupled to the microfluidic chamber;
- a first droplet generator configured to generate a first series of individual droplets of a first liquid, the first liquid having a first index of refraction;
- a second droplet generator configured to generate a second series of individual droplets of a second liquid, the second liquid having a second index of refraction different than the first index of refraction;
- an inlet coupled to the microfluidic chamber, the first droplet generator and the second droplet generator, the inlet configured to interlace the first series of individual droplets with the second series of individual droplets, the inlet further configured to controllably pass the interlaced first and second series of individual droplets into the microfluidic chamber,
- wherein the microfluidic chamber, the optical input, and the plurality of optical outputs are configured such that light entering the microfluidic chamber from the optical input passes to a first of the plurality of optical outputs when a droplet of the first liquid is in the microfluidic chamber and passes to a second of the plurality of optical outputs when a droplet of the second liquid is in the microfluidic chamber.
A method for optically switching, the method comprising:
- providing a microfluidic chamber coupled to an optical input and a plurality of optical outputs, the microfluidic chamber, the optical input, and the plurality of optical outputs configured such that light entering the microfluidic chamber from the optical input passes to a first of the plurality of optical outputs when a first liquid is in the microfluidic chamber and passes to a second of the plurality of optical outputs when the first liquid is not in the microfluidic chamber;
- and
- controllably passing a series of individual droplets of the first liquid into the microfluidic chamber, with each droplet separated from other of the series of individual droplets of the first liquid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.