Three-dimensional confocal Raman temperature characterization of electrokinetically pumped microchannels

A novel method for noninvasive, three-dimensional temperature characterization in microfluidic devices is presented. A specially designed confocal microscope was built and used to measure water temperature by sensing the Raman spectrum variations of the liquid. This is achieved by splitting the spectrum in the isosbestic point and detecting it with two photon counters. The difference between the signals of each detector divided by their sum shows a linear dependence with temperature. A fiber-coupled laser beam is used to pump the sample with 25 mW of optical power at 405 nm. This allows a 0.8 K temperature precision and a 9 μm axial resolution using a 1 s integration time. These features make temperature profiling in all dimensions possible, in contrast with previous methods, where the information present in the height of the channel is lost and the whole spectrum needs to be recovered before computing the sample temperature. Using this technique, different geometries of polydimethylsiloxane microchannels sealed with a 150 μm thick glass coverslip were studied, showing that heat flow through the glass is the dominating dissipation mechanism and defines the maximum temperature in the channel. The results show good agreement with previous work found in the literature.