Fluidic Lenses on a Chip

Fluidic Lenses
Light is directed by streams of fluid.

Tiny microlens made of a stream of calcium chloride solution surrounded by two adjustable streams of water has been developed by a multidisciplinary team of Penn State engineers. This device, which can fit on a biochip the size of a quarter, is capable of directing and focusing light at various distances and focal lengths by varying the flow rate of the streams of water.

This device, called an L-GRIN (Liquid-Gradient Refractive Index) lens could be used for medical imaging inside an endoscope, or as optical tweezers to capture and manipulate cells and other small particles. Their work appeared in the journal Lab on a Chip.

The team was led by Tony Jun Huang, who is James Henderson assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics. Also contributing were lead author Xiaole Mao, graduate student bioengineering, and graduate students Sz-Chin Steven Lin, Michael I. Lapsley, Jinjie Shi and Bala Krishna Juluri, engineering science and mechanics. For more information, visit http://live.psu.edu/story/39719.



This article was featured in Focus on Materials - Summer 2009.