Advances of Optofluidic Microcavities for Microlasers and Biosensors

Abstract

Optofluidic microcavities with high Q factor have made rapid progress in recent years by using various micro-structures. On one hand, they are applied to microfluidic lasers with low excitation thresholds. On the other hand, they inspire the innovation of new biosensing devices with excellent performance. In this article, the recent advances in the microlaser research and the biochemical sensing field will be reviewed. The former will be categorized based on the structures of optical resonant cavities such as the Fabry–Pérot cavity and whispering gallery mode, and the latter will be classified based on the working principles into active sensors and passive sensors. Moreover, the difficulty of single-chip integration and recent endeavors will be briefly discussed.