An elastomer waveguide fabricated using a 3D-printed mold

Abstract

A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) waveguide with a millimeter-scale fluidic cladding is fabricated using a 3D-printed mold for soft lithography. The waveguide is employed in total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) experiments using a 1 mM rhodamine 6G solution as the waveguide cladding. Results indicate an incident angle-dependent fluorescence peak at the core/cladding interface. A statistically significant redshift is observed as the incident angle is decreased from near-glancing to near-critical angle.