Boston Chapter of the IEEE Photonics Society

Abstract:  I explore the possibility of using optical tweezers to enable all optical control of optofluidic circuits.  Optically trapped microspheres can be used as microlenses for optical signal switching and steering.  By using cantilevers instead of microspheres we provide a method for robust and stable placement of switching elements in the optofluidic circuits.  Cantilevers made of tapered optical fiber and polydimethyl siloxane are demonstrated.  I also show that it is possible to use transverse optical tweezer beams to load silica beads into the hollow core photonic crystal fibers for tuning their transmission properties.

Biography:  Mark Cronin-Golomb graduated from Caltech with a PhD in Physics in 1983.  He then worked for two years at Ortel Corporation, researching the application of photorefractive nonlinear optics to semiconductor lasers.  He joined Tufts University as associate professor of Electrical Engineering, was chosen by the National Science Foundation as a Presidential Young Investigator and is now a member of the department of Biomedical Engineering.  In 1996-1997 he was a visiting associate professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University.  In 2005 he was a visiting fellow with CUDOS in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney.

Location:  Northeastern University