Microfluidic fabrication of cholesteric liquid crystal core-shell structures toward magnetically transportable microlasers

Lu-Jian Chen; Ling-Li Gong; Ya-Li Lin; Xin-Yi Jin; Han-Ying Li; Sen-Sen Li; Kai-Jun Che; Zhi-Ping Cai; Chaoyong James Yang

doi:10.1039/c6lc00070c

Microfluidic fabrication of cholesteric liquid crystal core-shell structures toward magnetically transportable microlasers

Lab Chip. 2016 Apr 7;16(7):1206-13. doi: 10.1039/c6lc00070c.

Authors

Lu-Jian Chen¹, Ling-Li Gong², Ya-Li Lin², Xin-Yi Jin³, Han-Ying Li³, Sen-Sen Li², Kai-Jun Che², Zhi-Ping Cai², Chaoyong James Yang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electronic Engineering, School of Information Science and Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, PR China. lujianchen@xmu.edu.cn and State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, PR China.
² Department of Electronic Engineering, School of Information Science and Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, PR China. lujianchen@xmu.edu.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, PR China and MOE Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, PR China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, The MOE Key Laboratory of Spectrochemical Analysis & Instrumentation, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, PR China.

PMID: 26923221
DOI: 10.1039/c6lc00070c

Abstract

We report a magnetically transportable microlaser with cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) core-shell structure, operating in band-edge mode. The dye doped CLC shells as a water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) double emulsion were fabricated by microfluidics. Water-dispersible Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles were incorporated in the inner aqueous phase by taking advantage of the immiscibility with the middle CLC oil phase. The influence of temperature and shell thickness on laser properties was discussed in detail. The non-invasive manipulation of microlasers was realized under a magnetic field. The dependence of velocity on the viscosity of the carrying fluid and size of the core-shell structure was theoretically analyzed and experimentally investigated using a prototype electromagnetic platform. We also discussed the design principles for this type of DDCLC core-shell structure. Such magnetically transportable microlasers offer promise in in-channel illumination applications requiring active control inside micro-channels.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't