Optofluidic tweezers
AssigneeWayne State University
InventorsAmar Basu, Gopakumar Kamalakshakurup
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Abstract
In a method of moving droplets, local heat is applied to a surface portion of a droplet for an amount of time sufficient to create a Marangoni flow in the droplet. Droplets are suspended in an emulsion in a carrier liquid on a substrate. A laser beam is used to move one of the droplets. the droplet consists of a first substance and a carrier liquid consists of a second substance that is not mixable with the first substance. The droplet is placed in the carrier liquid, and the mixture is emulsified. The emulsified mixture is placed on a substrate. Then the local heat is applied to the surface of the droplet. The first substance may include oil and the second substance may include water.
Claims18
A method of moving droplets, the method comprising the following steps:
- providing a droplet;
- and
- applying local heat to a surface portion of the droplet for an amount of time sufficient to create a Marangoni flow in the droplet that causes the droplet to move toward the local heat;
- wherein the droplet consists of a first substance, further comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate suitable for holding a carrier liquid on a top surface;
- providing a carrier liquid consisting of a second substance generally not mixable with the first substance;
- placing the droplet in the carrier liquid;
- and placing the carrier liquid with the droplet on the top surface of the substrate before applying the local heat.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.