Optical properties of liquid prism and its application

Liquid prism is a sort of prism composed of liquid as the body. It can singly work or be integrated on the optofluidic chip, which takes advantage of the unique properties of liquids to create adaptive systems. The optical properties of the prism can be flexibly changed by filling liquid or not as well as by adjusting the concentration of liquid. Taking advantage of this point, the liquid prism can be applied in optical communication, dye lasers, liquid analysis in biochemistry and medicine fields, optical imaging system, optical measurements and optical experiments, etc.. The liquid prism can serve as both the refraction prism and reflection prism in application. Here an optical switch based on the liquid prism and two approaches to analyze liquid by the liquid prism are presented and the optical properties of corresponding liquid prisms are discussed. Here the liquid prism is used to change light path in the optical switch or to analyze the refractive index, density, concentration and dispersion of liquid.