We report the successful fabrication and testing of 3D printed microfluidic devices with integrated membrane-based valves. Fabrication is performed with a low-cost commercially available stereolithographic 3D printer. Horizontal microfluidic channels with designed rectangular cross sectional dimensions as small as 350 μm wide and 250 μm tall are printed with 100% yield, as are cylindrical vertical microfluidic channels with 350 μm designed (210 μm actual) diameters. Based on our previous work [Rogers et al., Anal. Chem. 83, 6418 (2011)], we use a custom resin formulation tailored for low non-specific protein adsorption. Valves are fabricated with a membrane consisting of a single build layer. The fluid pressure required to open a closed valve is the same as the control pressure holding the valve closed. 3D printed valves are successfully demonstrated for up to 800 actuations.

Free-space volumetric displays, or displays that create luminous image points in space, are the technology that most closely resembles the three-dimensional displays of popular fiction. Such displays are capable of producing images in 'thin air' that are visible from almost any direction and are not subject to clipping. Clipping restricts the utility of all three-dimensional displays that modulate light at a two-dimensional surface with an edge boundary; these include holographic displays, nanophotonic arrays, plasmonic displays, lenticular or lenslet displays and all technologies in which the light scattering surface and the image point are physically separate. Here we present a free-space volumetric display based on photophoretic optical trapping that produces full-colour graphics in free space with ten-micrometre image points using persistence of vision. This display works by first isolating a cellulose particle in a photophoretic trap created by spherical and astigmatic aberrations. The trap and particle are then scanned through a display volume while being illuminated with red, green and blue light. The result is a three-dimensional image in free space with a large colour gamut, fine detail and low apparent speckle. This platform, named the Optical Trap Display, is capable of producing image geometries that are currently unobtainable with holographic and light-field technologies, such as long-throw projections, tall sandtables and 'wrap-around' displays.

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In this Letter, we present a paired set of waveguide spatial light modulators (SLMs) capable of a maximum light deflection nearing 28° for red. This deflection, which is several times larger than the angular sweep of current, state-of-the-art modulators, is made possible by the unilateral, near-collinear waveguide nature of the leaky mode interaction. The ability to double angular output in this way, which is either not possible or not practical in other SLMs, is possible in leaky mode devices, thanks to the absence of zero-order light and the lack of high-order outputs. This combined structure has angular deflection high enough to enable color holographic video monitors that do not require angular magnification. Furthermore, the low cost and high angular deflection of these devices may make it possible to make large arrays for flat-screen video holography.

Film display holograms typically diffract light over a wide enough view-angle to be viewed, directly, without intervening optics. However, all holographic video displays (with the exception of eye-tracked systems) must use optics beyond the hologram surface to overcome the challenges of small display extent and low diffraction angle by using some form of demagnification and derotation (i.e. angle magnification and optical multiplexing). We report a leaky mode waveguide spatial light modulator with sufficiently high angular diffraction to obviate the need for demagnification in scanned aperture systems. This high angle was achieved by performing a number of experiments to determine the depth of the annealed, proton-exchanged waveguide which corresponded to a maximized diffracted angle. Diffraction sweeps were recorded in excess of 19.5° (corresponding to only 70 MHz of input bandwidth) for 632.8 nm light which is above the 15° required for direct view display. Device geometries are proposed which might achieve greater than 20° of total angular sweep for red, green, and blue light.

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