With the help of a talented undergraduate, there has been progress on acrylic microfluidics. I checked the depth of the etch as I changed the speed of the cut. The faster I translated the laser spot, the shallower the cut (as expected).

What was very encouraging was the fact that the acrylic sealed at all the depths; none of the chips collapsed and clogged. That means I can probably make channels as shallow as 50 microns and as narrow as 100 microns without much optimization.

I’m still hopeful that I might be able to get down to the 10-20 um range with some optimization, but that might require a new lens to focus the laser more tightly. Thankfully, those cost about $20 shipped directly from China. We’ll see how that goes in 2-3 weeks.

It’s a travel day, so my update schedule is going to be strange.