Lab-on-a-chip devices are small, often disposable chips that incorporate the full functionality of an assay or device. These chips are generally meant to be inexpensive and mass-producable. Their functionality is frequently derived from a multi-disciplinary approach to design and fabrication, involving microfabrication, microfluidics, photonics, and electronics. Our group is working on developing key enabling technologies for lab-on-a-chip devices, including microfluidic flow control, acoustics-based flow/sample control, and optical system development through a combination of simulations and experimentation. We have choosen polymer-based flow cytometry chips as our test system for its system complexity, rapid prototyping ability, and widespread utility.

The area of high sensitivity photodetection has a myriad of applications and far-reaching consequences including ultra sensitive scattering and flourescence detection, and long and short distance communcations in lossy conditions. Photodetectors reaching the single photon detection limit are essential for applications such as quantum cryptography. Currently our group is researching unique negative feedback avalanche photodetectors for long distance communications and nanowire photoconductors for optical interconnects.