Optically manipulated photonic membranes for biophotonics

Traditional optical microscopy methods with microscope objectives limit interaction angles with biological samples. Microlasers, particularly those based on Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) resonators, offer powerful sensing capabilities but face excitation constraints. We present an innovative platform that overcomes these challenges using optically trapped micromirrors on flexible polymeric membranes to enable arbitrary excitation angles for WGM microlasers. This approach allows precise environmental sensing and versatile light delivery and collection within microfluidic chambers. Beyond advancing refractive index sensing, optically trapped micromirrors find applications in advanced imaging and light sheet microscopy, promising conditioned light delivery anywhere in the sample plane when combined with metasurfaces.