Optical beam shaping plays a key role in optics and photonics. In this work, meta-q-plate featured by arbitrarily space-variant optical axes is proposed and demonstrated via liquid crystal photoalignment based on a polarization-sensitive alignment agent and a dynamic micro-lithography system. Meta-q-plates with multiple-, azimuthally/radially variant topological charges and initial azimuthal angles are fabricated. Accordingly, complex beams with elliptical, asymmetrical, multi-ringed and hurricane transverse profiles are generated, making the manipulation of optical vortex up to an unprecedented flexibility. The evolution, handedness and Michelson interferogram of the hurricane one are theoretically analysed and experimentally verified. The design facilitates the manipulation of polarization and spatial degrees of freedom of light in a point-to-point manner. The realization of meta-q-plate drastically enhances the capability of beam shaping and may pave a bright way towards optical manipulations, OAM based informatics, quantum optics and other fields.

In this study, a new active micro-mixer utilizing moving wall structures has been demonstrated. Rapid and reliable fabrication techniques involving standard SU-8 lithography and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) replication process were employed for the formation of this micro chip device. The moving wall structures are activated pneumatically by buried side chambers which deform the channel walls and generate a rapid mixing of the confluent sample streams. The deformation of the moving wall structure can be controlled by the applied air pressure. A maximum deformation of 96.5 µm (about 96.5% of the channel width) can be achieved at an applied pressure of 50 psi for a wall structure with a width of 50 µm and a thickness of 100 µm. In this study, two pairs of moving wall structures were used for active mixing of the samples. Two dynamic operation modes, namely symmetric and asymmetric wall activation, are employed to alternately perturb the flow field and to generate a significant mixing effect. Mixing efficiency as high as 93.6% and 96.4%, respectively, can be achieved for these two modes. The effect of the operation frequency was also investigated. Experimental results indicate that the mixing efficiency increases with increasing operation frequency. However, once the operation frequency is higher than the frequency response of the device, the mixing efficiency drops sharply since the moving wall cannot be completely deflected within one actuation cycle. A numerical simulation was employed to investigate the mixing mechanism and to identify how the moving wall affected the sample flow field. Numerical data are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data with a variation less than 5%. Experimental results and numerical data indicate that the developed chip device can mix two confluent samples successfully. The development of active micro-mixers is a crucial component in many microfluidic applications.

In this study, a new design of a controllable micro-lens structure capable of the enhancement of LIF detection system has been demonstrated, which can be further integrated with buried optical fibers on a micro-CE chip for sample separation and detection. Two pneumatic side-chambers were placed between a micro-CE channel and an optical fiber channel. The intervals between the side-chamber and the microchannel were used to form two surfaces of the controllable micro-lens structure. Deformations of the two surfaces can be generated after pressurized index-matching fluid was injected into the pneumatic sidechambers. The side-chambers can be deflected as a double convex lens to focus both the excitation light source and the fluorescent emission signal. The profile and the focal length of the micro-lens structure can be actively adjusted by applying different liquid pressures so that biosamples with a low concentration can be detected. Using low-cost polymeric materials such as polydimethylsiloxane, rapid and reliable fabrication techniques involving standard lithography and replication process was employed for the formation of the proposed chip device. Experimental results revealed the controllable micro-lens structure can be successfully deformed as a convex lens to focus the laser light source and the collected fluorescence signal can be enhanced accordingly. The power amplitude of excitation laser light can be enhanced by 5.4-fold. FITC dye and DNA markers were then utilized for micro-CE testing. The results indicated that the signal amplitude could be enhanced 2.5-fold when compared to the case without the activation of the micro-lens. According to the experimental results, the developed device has a great potential to be integrated with other microfluidic devices for further biomedical applications.

This work demonstrates photo alignment and electrical tuning effects in photonic liquid crystal fiber (PLCF). Applying voltages of 0 approximately 130V and 250 approximately 400V shifts the short and long wavelength edges of the transmission bands by about 45 nm and 74 nm toward longer wavelengths, respectively. An electro-tunable notch filter is formed in the PLCF without the use of gratings. The range of tunability of the notch filter is around 180 nm with an applied voltage of 140 approximately 240 V. This photo-induced alignment yields a permanently tilted LC structure in PCF, which reduces the threshold voltage, and can be further modulated by electric fields. The polarization dependent loss and fast response time of photo-aligned PLCF is also demonstrated. The finite-difference frequency-domain method is adopted to analyze the shift of the transmission bandgap, and the simulation results are found to correlate well with experimental data.

This study reports a new microfluidic device capable of fine-tuned sample-flow focusing and generation of micro-droplets in liquids by controlling moving wall structures. Two microfluidic components including an ‘active microchannel width controller’ and a ‘micro chopper’ can be used to fine-tune the width of the hydrodynamically pre-focused stream and subsequently generate micro-droplets. In this study, a basic concept of a ‘controllable moving wall’ structure was addressed and applied as the active microchannel width controller and the micro chopper to generate the proposed function. Pneumatic side chambers were placed next to a main flow channel to construct the controllable moving wall structures. The deformation of the controllable moving wall structure can be generated by the pressurized air injected into the pneumatic side chambers. The proposed chip device was fabricated utilizing polymer material such as PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) to provide the flexibility of the controllable moving wall deformation. The microfluidic chip device with dimensions of 2.5 cm in width and 3.0 cm in length can be fabricated using a simple fabrication process. Experimental data showed that the deformation of the controllable moving wall structure can be adjusted by applying different air pressures, so that the width of the main flow channel can be controlled accordingly. By utilizing the proposed mechanism, the pre-focused dispersed phase stream could be actively focused into a narrower stream, and well-controlled micro-droplets with smaller diameters could be generated. The stream width can be reduced from 30 µm to 9 µm and micro-droplets with a diameter of 76 µm could be generated by utilizing the proposed device. In addition, to generate micro-droplets within smaller diameters, uniform size distribution of the micro-droplets can be obtained. According to the experimental results, development of the microfluidic device could be promising for a variety of applications such as emulsification, nano-medicine and droplet-based microfluidics.