Controlling the Flow of Microscopic Particles—The Role of Beam Size

Jitendra Bhatt, Ashok Kumar, Saiyed Nisar Ali Jaaffrey, Ravindra Pratap Singh

Department of Physics, University College of Science, Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, India.
Theoretical Physics Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India.

DOI: 10.4236/opj.2012.24036                

Abstract

Flow of micro particles and fluids is important in many microscopic systems. Here we present details of our finding of a directional flow of micro particles due to a single beam optical trap. It was found that the directional flow depends upon the size of optical trap, the number density of particles in the solution and the time after the trap was created. We suggest controlling the motion of microscopic particles in a fluid by varying a simple parameter like beam size for microfluidics applications.

Keywords

Optical Manipulation; Optical Tweezers; Directional Flow

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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