Er:YAl(3)(BO(3))(4) glassy thin films from polymeric precursor and sol-gel methods: Waveguides for integrated optics

This paper presents the characterization of single-mode waveguides for 980 and 1550 nm wavelengths. High quality planar waveguide structure was fabricated from Y(1-x)Er(x)Al(3)(BO(3))(4) multilayer thin films with x = 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5, prepared through the polymeric precursor and sol-gel methods using spin-coating. The propagation losses of the planar waveguides varying from 0.63 to 0.88 dB/cm were measured at 632.8 and 1550 nm. The photoluminescence spectra and radiative lifetimes of the Er(3+) (4)I(13/2) energy level were measured in waveguiding geometry. For most samples the photoluminescence decay was single exponential with lifetimes in between 640 mu s and 200 mu s, depending on the erbium concentration and synthesis method. These results indicate that Er doped YAl(3)(BO(3))(4) compounds are promising for low loss waveguides. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All fights reserved.

Autonomous capillary microfluidic system with embedded optics for improved troponin I cardiac biomarker detection

 Cardiovascular diseases are the most prevalent medical conditions affecting the modern world, reducing the quality of life for those affected and causing an ever increasing burden on clinical resources. Cardiac biomarkers are crucial in the diagnosis and management of patient outcomes. In that respect, such proteins are desirable to be measured at the point of care, overcoming the shortcomings of current instrumentation. We present a CO2 laser engraving technique for the rapid prototyping of a polymeric autonomous capillary system with embedded on-chip planar lenses and biosensing elements, the first step towards a fully miniaturised and integrated cardiac biosensing platform. The system has been applied to the detection of cardiac Troponin I, the gold standard biomarker for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. The devised lab-on-a-chip device was demonstrated to have 24 pg/ml limit of detection, which is well within the minimum threshold for clinically applicable concentrations. Assays were completed within approximately 7–9 min. Initial results suggest that, given the portability, low power consumption and high sensitivity of the device, this technology could be developed further into point of care instrumentation useful in the diagnosis of various forms of cardiovascular diseases. 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Laser locking to the Hg-199 S-1(0)-P-3(0) clock transition with 5.4x10(-15)/root tau fractional frequency instability

With Hg-199 atoms confined in an optical lattice trap in the Lamb-Dicke regime, we obtain a spectral line at 265.6 nm for which the FWHM is similar to 15 Hz. Here we lock an ultrastable laser to this ultranarrow S-1(0) - P-3(0) clock transition and achieve a fractional frequency instability of 5.4 x 10(-15) / root tau for tau <= 400 s. The highly stable laser light used for the atom probing is derived from a 1062.6 nm fiber laser locked to an ultrastable optical cavity that exhibits a mean drift rate of -6.0 x 10(-17) s-(1) (-16.9 mHzs(-1) at 282 THz) over a six month period. A comparison between two such lasers locked to independent optical cavities shows a flicker noise limited fractional frequency instability of 4 x 10(-16) per cavity. (c) 2012 Optical Society of America