The realization of miniaturized optofluidic platforms opens up novel potentialities for the achievement of devices with enhanced functionality and compactness. Such integrated systems bring fluid and light together and exploit their micro-scale interaction for a large variety of applications. The high sensitivity of compact microphotonic devices can generate effective microfluidic sensors, with integration capabilities. By turning the technology around, the exploitation of fluid properties holds the promise of highly flexible, tunable or reconfigurable microphotonic devices. We overview some of the exciting developments to date.

Biocompatible silk optical waveguides are fabricated by direct‐write assembly and demonstrated to guide light in both straight and curved architectures. These waveguides can easily be doped or functionalized with bioactive molecules, and are promising materials for biophotonic devices.

We report broad bandwidth, mid-IR supercontinuum generation using a sub-cm (8 mm) length of highly nonlinear tellurite microstructured photonic crystal fiber (PCF). We pump the fiber at telecommunication wavelengths by using 1550 nm, 100 fs pulses of energy E=1.9 nJ. When coupled in the PCF, these pulses result in a supercontinuum (SC) bandwidth of 4080 nm extending from 789 to 4870 nm measured at 20 dBm below the peak spectral power. This bandwidth is comparable or in excess of previously reported spectra for other nonlinear glass fiber formulations despite the significantly shorter fiber length. In addition, besides offering a convenient pump wavelength, short fiber lengths enable smoother SC spectra, lower dispersion, and reduced material absorption at longer wavelengths making the use of this PCF particularly interesting.

With soft micro‐ and nanopatterned materials becoming increasingly useful for various, optical, mechanical, electronic, microfluidic, and optofluidic devices, the extension of this paradigm to a pure protein‐based material substrate provides entirely new options for such devices. Silk fibroin combines the properties of an ideal nanoimprint resist with superior optical quality and biocompatibility making it a new technology platform that seamlessly combines nanophotonics, biopolymeric, and biocompatible materials.