The flow cytometer is a useful instrument for a selective, fast and accurate analysis of cells or particles [1]. It is widely used in several application fields ranging from cell biology, medicine, toxicology and environmental monitoring [2]. To this aim, a cell suspension is injected in a laminar flow and hydro-dynamically focused in a single cell flow that is illuminated by a monochromatic light. Scattered or emitted fluorescence light is collected and analyzed providing information for cell classification. In the last years several research groups have been involved in the development of micro flow cytometers. Micro flow cytometers have been demonstrated making use of using plastic (PDMS) or glass materials [3-5]. In this paper we propose the characterization of a novel micro flow cytometer based on silicon integrated hollow core AntiResonant Reflecting Optical Waveguides (ARROWs) [6]. ARROW geometry allows one to use the same channel to guide both the sample stream and the fluorescence excitation light, permitting to rearrange the detection system so as to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. The integrated micro flow cytometer has been characterized by using biological samples marked with standard fluorochromes. The experimental investigation confirms the success of the proposed microdevice in the detection of cells.
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