IN THIS SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATIVE RESEARCH (SBIR) EFFORT, LEIDEN MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY LLC (LMT) PROPOSES TO DESIGN AND BUILD THE WHOLLY-INTEGRATED OPTOFLUIDIC LASER-INDUCED FLUORESCENCE ELECTROPHORESIS CHIP (WOLFECHIP) SYSTEM, A MICROCHIP CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS (MCE) SYSTEM USING A MINIATURIZED OPTOFLUIDIC APPROACH FOR PACKAGING ALL CRITICAL OPTICAL ELEMENTS NECESSARY FOR LASER-INDUCED FLUORESCENCE (LIF) ON-CHIP. WOLFECHIP USES CUTTING-EDGE LASER MICROMACHINING TO FABRICATE FULLY-THREE-DIMENSIONAL OPTICAL ELEMENTS THAT FOCUS EXCITATION LASER LIGHT INTO A MCE MICROCHANNEL TO EXCITE FLUORESCENCE. THE FLUORESCENCE EMISSION IS COLLECTED USING CUSTOM-DESIGNED HIGH-NUMERICAL APERTURE COLLECTION OPTICS IMMUNE TO MISALIGNMENT OF THE CHIP UP TO 1-MM. THIS IMPROVES ON CURRENT AND PAST IMPLEMENTATIONS OF MCE-LIF BY (1) GREATLY MINIATURIZING THE OPTICAL ELEMENTS WHICH COMPRISE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF SPACE IN MCE-LIF SYSTEMS; (2) MAKING THE ENTIRE LIF OPTICAL SYSTEM MONOLITHIC AND IMMUNE TO MISALIGNMENT WHICH GREATLY ENHANCES THE VIBRATION-RESISTANCE OF THE ENTIRE SYSTEM; (3) MAKING THE SYSTEM IMMUNE TO OPERATOR-TO-OPERATOR VARIATIONS CAUSED BY THE PERIODIC NEED TO CAREFULLY ALIGN TRADITIONAL MCE-LIF SYSTEMS; AND (4) GREATLY REDUCING MEASURED STRAY LIGHT AND THEREBY POTENTIALLY INCREASING THE SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO (SNR) OF THE MCE-LIF SYSTEM BY EMPLOYING RIGHT-ANGLE EXCITATION/EMISSION OPTICAL GEOMETRIES AND THROUGH THE USE OF HIGH-QUALITY FLUORESCENCE-FREE FUSED SILICA. LMT WILL DELIVER A COMPLETE MCE-LIF SYSTEM FEATURING A REFINED WOLFECHIP DESIGN CREATED IN PHASE I.

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