Fast acoustic tweezers for the two-dimensional manipulation of individual particles in microfluidic channels

S. B. Q. Tran (1, 1) , Philippe Marmottant (2) , Pierre Thibault (1, 1)

1 LIPhy - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique [Saint Martin d’Hères]
2 DYFCOM - DYnamique des Fluides COmplexes et Morphogénèse [Grenoble]

This paper presents a microfluidic device that implements standing surface acoustic waves in order to handle single cells, droplets, and generally particles. The particles are moved in a very controlled manner by the two-dimensional drifting of a standing wave array, using a slight frequency modulation of two ultrasound emitters around their resonance. These acoustic tweezers allow any type of motion at velocities up to few 10mm/s, while the device transparency is adapted for optical studies. The possibility of automation provides a critical step in the development of lab-on-a-chip cell sorters and it should find applications in biology, chemistry, and engineering domains.

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]; Acoustique [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

S. B. Q. Tran, Philippe Marmottant, Pierre Thibault. Fast acoustic tweezers for the two-dimensional manipulation of individual particles in microfluidic channels. Applied Physics Letters, 2012, 101, pp.114103. ⟨10.1063/1.4751348⟩. ⟨hal-00751297⟩