3D mapping of microfluidic flow in laboratory-on-a-chip structures using optical tweezers.
Accurate measurement of flow in microfluidic systems is both challenging and important, providing information that can be used to better understand flow fields within laboratory-on-a-chip devices and validate computational simulations. Here, we use optical tweezers within a microfluidic system to measure the velocity vectors of flow fields in two and three dimensions around a microstructures including both molded features within channels and cells. The experimental results are compared to a complex fluid dynamics model showing an agreement between the two of better than 3 microm/s. This measurement is highly reproducible and minimally invasive, which in the future could be used to provided more in-depth studies of the rheological properties of biological cells and microstructures in laboratory-on-a-chip devices.
Mushfique
Hasan
H
Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
Leach
Jonathan
J
Yin
Huabing
H
Di Leonardo
Roberto
R
Padgett
Miles J
MJ
Cooper
Jonathan M
JM