Optical fiber resonator (OFR) sensor is presented for bulk liquid refractive index (RI) sensing. The sensing mechanism relies on the spectral shifts of whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of OFRs which are excited using a tapered fiber. OFR liquid RI sensor is fully characterized using water solutions of ethanol and ethylene glycol (EG). A good agreement is achieved between the analytical calculations and experimental results for both TE and TM polarizations. The detection limit for bulk RI is calculated to be between 2.7 – 4.7 × 10−5 refractive index unit (RIU). The OFR sensor provides a robust, easy-to-fabricate and sensitive liquid refractive index sensor which can be employed in lab-on-a-chip applications.
An SU-8 polymer microdisk resonator coated with a palladium (Pd) layer and coupled to a single-mode optical waveguide is used to as a hydrogen (H2) gas sensor. In the presence of H2, a red shift is observed in the spectral positions of the microdisk whispering gallery modes (WGMs) due to the expansion in the Pd lattice. H2 concentrations below the flammable limit (4%) down to 0.3% could be detected in nitrogen atmosphere at room temperature. For H2 concentrations between 0.3 − 1%, WGM spectral positions shifted linearly with H2 concentration at a rate of 32 pm/%H2. Average response time of the devices was measured to be 50 s for 1% H2. The proposed device concept can also be used to detect different chemical gases by using appropriate sensing layers.
We introduce tunable optofluidic microlasers based on active optical resonant cavities formed by optically stretched, dye-doped emulsion droplets confined in a dual-beam optical trap. To achieve tunable dye lasing, optically pumped droplets of oil dispersed in water are stretched by light in the dual-beam trap. Subsequently, resonant path lengths of whispering gallery modes (WGMs) propagating in the droplet are modified, leading to shifts in the microlaser emission wavelengths. We also report lasing in airborne, Rhodamine B-doped glycerolwater droplets which were localized using optical tweezers. While being trapped near the focal point of an infrared laser, the droplets were pumped with a Q-switched green laser. Furthermore, biological lasing in droplets supported by a superhydrophobic surface is demonstrated using a solution of Venus variant of the yellow fluorescent protein or E. Coli bacterial cells expressing stably the Venus protein. Our results may lead to new ways of probing airborne particles, exploiting the high sensitivity of stimulated emission to small perturbations in the droplet laser cavity and the gain medium.
We present dye lasing from optically manipulated glycerol-water aerosols with diameters ranging between 7.7 and
11.0 μm confined in optical tweezers. While being optically trapped near the focal point of an infrared laser, the
droplets stained with Rhodamine B were pumped with a Q-switched green laser and their fluorescence emission
spectra featuring whispering gallery modes (WGMs) were recorded with a spectrograph. Nonlinear dependence
of the intensity of the droplet WGMs on the pump laser fluence indicates dye lasing. The average wavelength
of the lasing WGMs could be tuned between 600 and 630 nm by adjusting the droplet size. These results may
lead to new ways of probing airborne particles, exploiting the high sensitivity of stimulated emission to small
perturbations in the droplet laser cavity and the gain medium.
Large deformations can easily be introduced in liquid microdroplets by applying relatively small external forces or controlling the evaporation/condensation kinetics. This makes liquid microdroplets attractive to serve as the building blocks of largely tunable optical switches or filters that are essential in optical communication systems based on wavelength division multiplexing. Solid optical microcavities have not found large use in these applications, mainly due to their rigid nature. The fact that liquid microdroplets are low-cost and disposable can also prove to be important in mass production of these photonic devices.
Here, we show that local heating with an infrared laser can be used to largely tune the whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of water/glycerol or salty water microdroplets standing on a superhydrophobic surface. In the scheme presented, a liquid microdroplet kept in a humidity chamber is stabilized on a superhydrophobic surface, and an infrared laser beam is focused near the center of the microdroplet. As a result of the local heating, the temperature of the liquid microdroplet increases, and the water content in the liquid microdroplet evaporates until a new equilibrium is reached. At the new equilibrium state, the non-volatile component (i.e. glycerol or salt) attains a higher concentration in the liquid microdroplet.
We report tunability over large spectral ranges up to 30 nm at around 590 nm. For salty water microdroplets the reported spectral tuning mechanism is almost fully reversible, while for the case of glycerol/water microdroplets the spectral tuning mechanism can be made highly reversible when the chamber is saturated with glycerol vapor and the relative water humidity approaches unity.
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