A microfluidic 2×2 optical switch

Abstract
A 2×2 microfluidic-based optical switch is proposed and demonstrated. The switch is made of an optically clear silicon elastomer, Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), using soft lithography. It has insertion loss smaller than 1dB and extinction ratio on the order of 20dB . The device is switching between transmission (bypass) and reflection (exchange) modes within less than 20ms .