Spectrographic Microfluidic Memory

Abstract

Recent advancements in micro- and nanoscale fluidic manipulation have enabled the development of a new class of tunable optical structures which are collectively referred to as optofluidic devices. In this paper we will introduce our recent work directed towards the development of a spectrographic optofluidic memory. Data encoding for the memory is based on creating spectrographic codes consisting of multiple species of photoluminescent nanoparticles at discrete intensity levels which are suspended in liquids. The data cocktails are mixed, delivered and stored using a series of soft and hard-lithography microfluidic structures. Semiconductor quantum dots are ideally suited for this application due to their narrow and size tunable emission spectra and consistent excitation wavelength. Both pressure driven and electrokinetic approaches to spectral code writing have been developed and will be experimentally demonstrated here. Novel techniques for data storage and readout are also discussed and demonstrated.