Optofluidic transport in liquid core waveguiding structures

Here the authors introduce a method to achieve optofluidically based particle transport using liquid core waveguiding structures. Optically driven transport of 3μm polystyrene particles through a liquid core photonic crystal fiber is demonstrated and the resulting velocity distribution is characterized. The authors also show that dielectric particles can form highly concentrated bands within the liquid core with negligible transport based dispersion. They anticipate that this approach could lay the groundwork for an innovative class of optically driven particle concentration and separation devices.