Determining viscosity of nano-liter liquids is challenging, since most viscometers tend to use large volumes. We use
short lengths of hollow-core photonic crystal fibres to determine the viscosity of small volumes of two types of monosaccharides
diluted in a phosphate buffer solution. The simple optical technique used is based on the change in
propagation characteristics of a laser beam travelling through the fibre as it fills with the nano-litre liquid of interest via
capiliary action. The fiber length was kept in a temperature controlled casing, to minimize temperature differences across
the fiber length for reproducibility and minimal error.
The ratio (ζ) of surface tension to viscosity of liquids can be determined using hollow core photonic crystal fibres (HCPCF),
and we show here techniques to determine ζ of glucose levels within fluids, of nano-litre quantities. We
demonstrate an optically integrated micro-capillary viscometer, to determine the concentrations of nano-litre solutions
based on properties of their flow within HC-PCF. The filling of the fibres with liquids within a given range of refractive
index will induce a shift in the photonic band gap of the fibre, allowing guidance of light at wavelengths that were
originally outside the bandgap of the HC-PCF.
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