Sorting mesoscopic objects with periodic potential landscapes: optical fractionation.
Viscously damped objects driven through a periodically modulated potential energy landscape can become kinetically locked in to commensurate directions through the landscape, and thus can be deflected away from the driving direction. We demonstrate that the threshold for an object to become kinetically locked in to an array can depend exceptionally strongly on its size. When implemented with an array of holographic optical tweezers, this process provides the basis for a continuous and continuously optimized sorting technique for mesoscopic objects called "optical fractionation."
Department of Physics, James Franck Institute and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
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D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D005591:Chemical Fractionation / Q000379:methods*; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000528:radiation effects; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004735:Energy Transfer; D007834:Lasers; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000379:methods*; D008846:Micromanipulation / Q000379:methods*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D010507:Periodicity; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
D003102:Colloids