Optical-resonance-assisted generation of super monodisperse microdroplets and microbeads with nanometer precision

Richter, Dmitry; Marinčič, Matevž; Humar, Matjaž

doi:10.1039/c9lc01034c

Cited by 13 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…Even more conveniently, a standard setup for microfluidic droplet generation could be used, for example, a coflow microcapillary device, where the droplet could be generated by the microcapillary inside a microchannel. [29] The continuous phase could be changed and the time dependence of the IFT could be measured. In conclusion, the newly developed method could become a powerful technique for research as well as commercial use for a variety of liquids.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Droplets are frequently used as WGM microcavities and lasers in various forms, [22] for example, in air, [23] on a superhydrophobic surface, [24,25] embedded in a solid, [26,27] or dispersed in another liquid. [28,29] Lasing has been also demonstrated in natural and injected droplets inside live cells. [30] In contrast to solid microcavites, the size of the droplets can be controlled extremely precisely in real time, whereas their size is monitored via WGMs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…[30] In contrast to solid microcavites, the size of the droplets can be controlled extremely precisely in real time, whereas their size is monitored via WGMs. [24,29,31] Despite a wide variety of applications, WGMs in droplets have not been applied till now to measure IFT.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Whispering Gallery‐Mode Microdroplet Tensiometry

Pirnat

Humar

2021

Advanced Photonics Research

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Droplets are ideally suited to support high‐Q‐factor whispering gallery modes (WGMs) due to their perfectly smooth surface. WGMs enable extremely precise measurements of the droplet properties such as size and shape. Herein, a simple, fast, and very precise technique to measure interfacial tension (IFT) between two immiscible liquids based on WGMs is demonstrated. A microdroplet is generated at the end of a glass microcapillary, submerged in a continuous liquid phase, and its size changes are monitored with nanometer precision via WGMs, while simultaneously applying finely tunable pressure through the microcapillary. IFT is determined from the size of the droplet and the pressure in the microcapillary at equilibrium. Droplets as small as 8 μm are used, thus requiring extremely small sample volume. The IFT measurements can be carried out also at nonequilibrium state when either the size of the droplet or the chemical composition of the continuous phase changes in time. Simultaneously, the WGMs enable very precise measurement of the refractive index of either the droplet or the continuous phase.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Whispering Gallery‐Mode Microdroplet Tensiometry

Pirnat

Humar

2021

Advanced Photonics Research

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“…[1][2][3]11,12,20 Consequently, WGM offers an innovative system of spectroscopic encoding for plenty of applications. [21][22][23][24][25] Recently, micro/nano photonic barcodes have been widely applied in multiplexed bioassays, 24,[26][27][28] cell tagging, 29,30 encoding, 31 anti-counterfeiting, and information security. 21,25,32,33 In general, the concept of optical barcodes usually refers to a fixed spectral pattern corresponding to a single target.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic photonic barcodes for molecular detection based on cavity-enhanced energy transfer

et al. 2020

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Optical barcodes have demonstrated a great potential in multiplexed bioassays and cell tracking for their distinctive spectral fingerprints. The vast majority of optical barcodes were designed to identify a specific target by fluorescence emission spectra, without being able to characterize dynamic changes in response to analytes through time. To overcome these limitations, the concept of the bioresponsive dynamic photonic barcode was proposed by exploiting interfacial energy transfer between a microdroplet cavity and binding molecules. Whispering-gallery modes resulting from cavity-enhanced energy transfer were therefore converted into photonic barcodes to identify binding activities, in which more than trillions of distinctive barcodes could be generated by a single droplet. Dynamic spectral barcoding was achieved by a significant improvement in terms of signal-to-noise ratio upon binding to target molecules. Theoretical studies and experiments were conducted to elucidate the effect of different cavity sizes and analyte concentrations. Timeresolved fluorescence lifetime was implemented to investigate the role of radiative and non-radiative energy transfer. Finally, microdroplet photonic barcodes were employed in biodetection to exhibit great potential in fulfilling biomedical applications.

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“…Without introducing external effects, the laser arrays have a rather limited tuning capability. In contrast, a liquid optical cavity, that is, a droplet, can be reconfigurable and dynamically tuned and controlled by novel microfluidic designs, , evaporation/condensation kinetics, interfacial tension, ultrasonic waves, heating, and pressure . A microdroplet has a nearly perfect spherical geometry and a smooth surface as a result of minimization of interfacial energy, which facilitates to achieve a low lasing threshold.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconfigurable Integrated Optofluidic Droplet Laser Arrays

Zhang

Palit

Liu

et al. 2020

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Optofluidic lasers are an emerging technology for the development of miniaturized light sources and biological and chemical sensors. However, most optofluidic lasers demonstrated to date are operated at the single optical cavity level, which limits their applications in high-throughput biochemical sensing, high-speed wavelength switching, and on-chip spectroscopic analysis. Here, we demonstrated an optofluidic droplet laser array on a silicon chip with integrated microfluidics, in which four individual droplet optical cavities are generated and controlled by a 2 × 2 nozzle array. Arrays of droplets with a diameter ranging from 115 to 475 μm can be generated, removed, and regenerated on demand. The lasing threshold of the droplet laser array is in the range of 0.63–2.02 μJ/mm2. An image-based lasing threshold analysis method is developed, which enables simultaneous lasing threshold measurement for all laser units within the laser array using a low-cost camera. Compared to the conventional spectrum-based threshold analysis method, the lasing threshold obtained from the image-based method showed consistent results. Our droplet laser array is a promising technology in the development of cost-effective and integrated coherent light source on a chip for point-of-care applications.

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Optical-resonance-assisted generation of super monodisperse microdroplets and microbeads with nanometer precision

Abstract: Microdroplets and microbeads were produced with nanometer size precision by observing the optical resonances and used as optical barcodes.

Cited by 13 publications

References 36 publications

Whispering Gallery‐Mode Microdroplet Tensiometry

Whispering Gallery‐Mode Microdroplet Tensiometry

Dynamic photonic barcodes for molecular detection based on cavity-enhanced energy transfer

Reconfigurable Integrated Optofluidic Droplet Laser Arrays

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