An optofluidic system with integrated microlens arrays for parallel imaging flow cytometry

Abstract

In recent years, high-speed imaging has become increasingly effective for the rapid analysis of single cells in flowing environments.

Self-aligned 3D microlenses in a chip fabricated with two-photon stereolithography for highly sensitive absorbance measurement

“…Lenses, as a fundamental optical element, were frequently incorporated to enhance the coupling efficiency of light in microfluidic chips. 12,13 In general, additionally assembled type 14,15 and self-aligned type 9,16,17 were the two main formats of lens applications. For additionally assembled lenses, necessary position adjustment was commonly required for optimal performance while selfaligned lenses could be used directly.…”

“…Thermal reflow was a popular method to fabricate 3D microlenses, 14,21,22 but it usually could not work straightforwardly for the absorbance application in microfluidic chips due to the mismatch of the microlens axis (out of plane) with the flow path (in plane). In contrast, as a technique of micromachining, two-photon stereolithography is suitable to fabricate arbitrary 3D microstructures with submicrometer resolution such as micro motors, 23 micro magnetic structures 24 and micro scaffolds for cell growth.…”

Mini-Review on Bioinspired Superwetting Microlens Array and Compound Eye

“…Microlens arrays (MLAs) and MLA-based artificial compound eyes (ACEs) play a key role in advanced micro-optical systems (Pan et al, 2007 ; Song et al, 2013 ; Gorzelak et al, 2014 ; Petsch et al, 2016 ; Lin et al, 2018 ). By taking advantages of small size, high integration, and striking optical capability, MLAs and ACEs are widely applied in light-field regulation (Deng et al, 2014 ; Wei et al, 2018 ; Zhou et al, 2018 ; Sohna et al, 2019 ), fiber coupling (Elsherif et al, 2019 ; Liu et al, 2019 ; Orth et al, 2019 ), lab-on-chip devices (Fei et al, 2011 ; Lv et al, 2016 ; Vespini et al, 2016 ), biochemical observation (Ma et al, 2014 ; Holzner et al, 2018 ), laser microfabrication (Bekesi et al, 2010 ; Li et al, 2020 ), solar cells (Chen Y. et al, 2013 ), sensors (Zanella et al, 2020 ), three-dimensional imaging (Li et al, 2016 ; Kim et al, 2019 ; Zhang et al, 2019 ; Joo et al, 2020 ; Qin et al, 2020 ; Zhao et al, 2020 ), and light extraction (Shin et al, 2018 ; Zhou et al, 2019a , b ). However, the normal use of the MLA is usually restricted by many limitations.…”

Microlens Fabrication by Replica Molding of Electro-Hydrodynamic Printing Liquid Mold

“…Microlens and microlens array (MLA) with diameters of a few to hundreds micrometers have wide applications in various fields, including artificial compound eyes [1], light-emitting devices [2], microfluidic system [3], sensors [4], and so on. These applications require the fabrication of microlens arrays on different substrates or even on curved surfaces, thus requiring achievable microlens fabrication processes.…”