Optical "snowblowing" of microparticles and cells in a microfluidc environment using Airy and parabolic wavepackets

Jörg Baumgartl; Gregor M. Hannappel; David J. Stevenson; Michael Mazilu; Daniel Day; Min Gu; Kishan Dholakia

doi:10.1117/12.826193

20 August 2009 Optical "snowblowing" of microparticles and cells in a microfluidc environment using Airy and parabolic wavepackets

Jörg Baumgartl, Gregor M. Hannappel, David J. Stevenson, Michael Mazilu, Daniel Day, Min Gu, Kishan Dholakia

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7400, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VI; 74001R (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826193
Event: SPIE NanoScience + Engineering, 2009, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The year 2007 witnessed the experimental realization of extraordinary laser beams termed Airy and parabolic beams. Surprisingly, these beams are immune to diffraction and in addition exhibit transverse acceleration while propagating. This peculiar property of both Airy and parabolic beams facilitates the clearance of both microparticles and cells from a region in a sample chamber through particle/cell transport along curved trajectories. We term this concept "Optically mediated particle clearing" (OMPC) and, alternatively, "Optical redistribution" (OR) in the presence of a microfluidic environment, where particles and cells are propelled over micrometersized walls. Intuitively, Airy and parabolic beams act as a form of micrometer-sized "snowblower" attracting microparticles or cells at the bottom of a sample chamber to blow them in an arc to another region of the sample. In this work, we discuss the performance and limitations of OMPC and OR which are currently based on a single Airy beam optionally fed by a single parabolic beam. A possible strategy to massively enhance the performance of OMPC and OR is based on large arrays of Airy beams. We demonstrate the first experimental realization of such arrays.

Citation Download Citation

Jörg Baumgartl, Gregor M. Hannappel, David J. Stevenson, Michael Mazilu, Daniel Day, Min Gu, and Kishan Dholakia "Optical "snowblowing" of microparticles and cells in a microfluidc environment using Airy and parabolic wavepackets", Proc. SPIE 7400, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VI, 74001R (20 August 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826193

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available