Measurement of particle position in micro channel using two-layer POF array

We propose a two-layer plastic optical fiber (POF) array sensor assembled across a micro channel fabricated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chip for the measurement of particle position in the micro channel. Upon light emission from a light source to a two-layer POF array, the position of a particle is measured by the rate of decrease in POF light output power in the presence of a particle. The effects of optical axis misalignment of the POF array were examined with verification calculations. The proposed sensor was fabricated and experimentally evaluated. The experimental result of our proposed senor was compared with the particle position measured from the image recorded with a CCD camera attached to a microscope. The experimental results indicate that our proposed sensor can be adapted for use in automated cell manipulation.