Optical two-beam traps in microfluidic systems

Kirstine Berg-Sørensen

An attractive solution for optical trapping and stretching by means of two counterpropagating laser beams is to embed waveguides or optical fibers in a microfluidic system. The microfluidic system can be constructed in different materials, ranging from soft polymers that may easily be cast in a rapid prototyping manner, to hard polymers that could even be produced by injection moulding, or to silica in which waveguides may either be written directly, or with grooves for optical fibers. Here, we review different solutions to the system and also show results obtained in a polymer chip with DUV written waveguides and in an injection molded polymer chip with grooves for optical fibers.

DOI