Microfluidic sorting with blinking optical traps

Opt Lett. 2012 May 15;37(10):1739-41. doi: 10.1364/OL.37.001739.

Abstract

It is shown that by appropriately choosing the periodicity of a blinking optical trap only larger sized colloidal spheres can be selectively trapped out of a mixed population. This happens because smaller sized, more agile, spheres escape out of the trap volume during the off period of the trap beam. Therefore, by scanning an array of blinking traps over a mixed sample, bigger spheres can be forced to move with the traps and eventually could be taken to the output side. Experimental demonstration of sorting between 1 µm and 2 µm diameter silica spheres is presented.

MeSH terms

  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques*
  • Optical Tweezers*
  • Particle Size
  • Silicon Dioxide / chemistry

Substances

  • Silicon Dioxide