Method and apparatus for particle manipulation, and measuring apparatus utilizing the same
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsMatsuomi Nishimura, Kazuo Isaka, Tadashi Okamoto, Kazumi Tanaka, Toshikazu Onishi, Takeshi Miyazaki, Hidehito Takayama
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flow of liquid containing floating fine particles is formed in a flow path, thereby causing successive movement of the particles. A light beam having intensity distribution from a laser is focused on the liquid flow, whereby the particle is optically trapped at the irradiating position, thus being stopped against the liquid flow or being slowed by a braking force. This phenomenon is utilized in controlling the spacing of the particles in the flow or in separating the particles.
Claims7
A particle manipulating method comprising the steps of:
- flowing a plurality of particles, some of which are different in kind, along a predetermined flow path without using a sheath flow method;
- and
- irradiating a light beam, having an intensity gradient distribution, on the predetermined flow path from the direction crossing to the direction along the predetermined path to apply a braking force to each of the flowed particles, according to the kind of particle, to sort the flowed particles by reducing the flow velocity of the particle according to the kind of the particle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.