In the master's thesis, we compare optical microscopy and fluorescence microscopy for the purpose of characterizing mixing in microchannels. The goal is to observe which method provides results of higher quality. For this purpose, we designed microchannels, fabricated them using process chain comprising of 3D printing vat polymerisation technology and PDMS polymer casting. The diffusion mixing in fabricated microchannels was characterized using both an optical and a fluorescence microscopy. We also performed simulations using the computational fluid dynamics method and compared the results with the experimental ones. The results obtained with the fluorescence microscope were superior in terms of contrast between the fluid phases and showed better agreement with the simulations, indicating that fluorescence microscopy is more suitable for characterizing mixing in microchannels. This work serves as a guide for deciding which method to choose for the characterization of mixing in microchannels.
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