An optofluidic sensor from nanochannel arrays and laser interferometry

LEANDRO N. ACQUAROLI; RAÚL URTEAGA; CLAUDIO L. A. BERLI; R.R. KOROPECKI

Heidelberg,

Conferencia; EMBL Conference Microfluidics; 2012

The integration of optics and microfluidics is a rapid developing field of research [1] and applications are continuously growing, notably in chemical and biological sensing [2]. Here we present an opofluidic technique to study the spontaneous filling of nanochannels driven by capillary forces in nanoporous substrates, such as anodized alumina and silicon membranes [3].The measurement system can be used as nanofluidic sensor to determine fluid properties of a small sample of liquid, as well as to investigate the internal structure of nanoporous materials. The last possibility is discussed in this work, where the topology of anodized alumina is elucidated. More precisely, we show by experiments and theory that nanopores have a conical geometry.