We have fabricated a waveguide-type optical sensing microchip and succeeded in on-chip photoinduced absorption (PIA) spectroscopy. The PIA microchip was fabricated with a conventional photolithographic technique and consisted of plastic optical waveguides and microfluidic channels. Furthermore, a serially-cascaded polymer waveguide doped with organic dyes was integrated on this microchip, which was fabricated using a self-written waveguide process. This dye-doped waveguide was pumped by a UV light emitting diode (UV-LED) and used as a probe light source with a broad emission spectrum. At the same time, a solution of test material in the microfluidic channel was synchronously pumped by a UV-LED or UV laser diode. Since the transmission spectrum of the photo-excited test material could be measured, the PIA spectra were obtained easily. In this study, we have demonstrated the on-chip PIA measurements for two classes of test materials, rare-earth complex and chlorophyll molecules. In the measurement for the aqueous solution of Neodymium (III) acetate hydrate, PIA signals attributed to the 4f-4f transition was observed. Furthermore, by varying the modulation frequency of the pulsed optical pumping, lifetime analysis of the excited 4f states was achieved. In the measurements for the ethanol solutions of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, PIA signals were observed at the wavelength near the Q-band absorption peaks. These spectra were very similar to the well-known feature for the photosystem II protein complex observed in a conventional PIA system. From these results, it is expected that the onchip PIA measurement technique is applicable to the transient analyses for the material systems with photoexcited charge transfer.

Date Published: 3 May 2013
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 8774, Optical Sensors 2013, 87740Q (3 May 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2016824

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8774:
Optical Sensors 2013
Francesco Baldini; Jiri Homola; Robert A. Lieberman, Editor(s)