Reading Tip of the Month Adaptive photonic and microfluidic chip packaging via 3D alignment structures

Our Reading Tip of the Month highlights a recent publication by Markus Greul and Mathias Kaschel, focusing on advanced optofluidic integration and chip-level packaging strategies.

Our colleagues Markus Greul and Mathias Kaschel recently published a new scientific paper titled
“Adaptive photonic and microfluidic chip packaging via 3D alignment structures.”

This work presents a flexible and practical approach to integrating photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with microfluidic chips. The focus is on precise yet cost-effective assembly that can be easily integrated into various laboratory environments. At the heart of the concept is a 3D-printed holder that enables a stable fiber-to-chip connection and can be easily adapted to different grating coupler designs.

A particular highlight is the passive self-alignment of the microfluidic PDMS structure using 3D alignment structures printed directly onto the photonic chip. A proof-of-principle experiment also demonstrates fluorescence-based detection within the microchannels—a promising approach for scalable and multiplexable optofluidic systems.