Laboratory for Lightwave Devices Research Projects

Microstructured Optical Fiber Assisted Microfluidics

Compact detection systems that do not require sample preprocessing are attractive industry. For example, biohazard detection is important to the medical, environmental pollution monitoring, food safety and industrial process control industries. Portable monitoring systems are suitable for point-of-care testing that provides real-time monitors for components like blood glucose, fertility hormones and cardiac stress proteins.

Modeling Thermal and Strain Properties of Microstructured Optical Fiber

Models for determining the inter core bending or deflection of multicore optical fibers, as well as thermal expansion modeling of inter core spacing in multicore optical fibers are investigated. These models will be employed to predict the detection optical properties of Microstructured Optical Fiber. The results of this effort will contribute significantly to the development of optical fiber based microfluidic systems.

Radio-Over-Fiber System

Microwave photonic systems offer the potential for new capabilities and significant performance improvements in communication systems. Such systems offer advantages inherent to photonics such as low loss, high bandwidth, immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI), tunability, and reconfigurability. This effort will focus on the development of a prototype RF photonic link based on a photonic crystal optical fiber platform to serve as a dispersion managed single-mode fiber optic cable assembly that interfaces between the transmitter and receiver units. This proposed RoF system will enable enhanced platform survivability, reduced operational and logistic burdens without reducing performance.