An optofluidic volume refractometer using Fabry-Perot resonator with tunable liquid microlenses

This letter reports the development of an optofluidic Fabry-Perot (FP) resonator, which consists of a microcavity and a pair of liquid microlenses. The microcavity forms part of the microchannel to facilitate sample injection. The liquid microlenses are used for efficient light coupling from the optical fiber to the microcavity. The liquid microlens collimates the diverging light from the optical fiber into the FP cavity, which provides real-time tuning to obtain the highest possible finesse up to 18.79. In volume refractive index measurement, a sensitivity of 960 nm per refractive index unit (RIU) and a detection range of 0.043 RIU are achieved. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3430605]