Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
Nat Commun. 2013;4:2305. doi: 10.1038/ncomms3305.
Plasmonics provides an unparalleled method for manipulating light beyond the diffraction limit, making it a promising technology for the development of ultra-small, ultra-fast and power-efficient optical devices. To date, the majority of plasmonic devices are in the solid state and have limited tunability or configurability. Moreover, individual solid-state plasmonic devices lack the ability to deliver multiple functionalities. Here we utilize laser-induced surface bubbles on a metal film to demonstrate, for the first time, a plasmonic lens in a microfluidic environment. Our 'plasmofluidic lens' is dynamically tunable and reconfigurable. We record divergence, collimation and focusing of surface plasmon polaritons using this device. The plasmofluidic lens requires no sophisticated nanofabrication and utilizes only a single low-cost diode laser. Our results show that the integration of plasmonics and microfluidics allows for new opportunities in developing complex plasmonic elements with multiple functionalities, high-sensitivity and high-throughput biomedical detection systems, as well as on-chip, all-optical information processing techniques.
等离子体激元提供了一种超越衍射极限的无与伦比的光操控方法，是开发超小型、超高速和高能效光学器件的有前途的技术。迄今为止，大多数等离子体器件处于固态，可调谐性或可配置性有限。此外，单个固态等离子体器件缺乏提供多种功能的能力。在这里，我们利用金属膜上的激光诱导表面气泡，首次在微流环境中展示了等离子体透镜。我们的“等离子体流控透镜”是动态可调谐和可重新配置的。我们使用该设备记录了表面等离激元极化激元的发散、准直和聚焦。该等离子体流控透镜不需要复杂的纳米制造，只需要使用单个低成本二极管激光器。我们的结果表明，等离子体学和微流控学的结合为开发具有多种功能、高灵敏度和高通量生物医学检测系统以及片上全光信息处理技术的复杂等离子体元件提供了新的机会。
