Optofluidic cuvettes with integrated polymer waveguides for fluid analysis on printed circuit boards

Abstract:
This work is devoted to the development and elaboration of fabrication technology of electro-optical circuit boards and optofluidic devices for label-free liquid analysis. Precise and flexible laser direct writing for formation of photopolymer-based waveguides is combined with mask-based photolithography for fluid channels and cuvettes structuring. The manufacturing technology and characterization of fabricated polymer waveguides and light propagation are described in this work. The polymer multilayer system is mechanically combined with a printed circuit board resulting in an autonomous, pressure-resistant, cost-effective and rugged sensing system with small footprint. Light absorption and scattering are the functional principle of the demonstrator for sea water turbidity measurements.