TY - JOUR
T1 - Radius measurements of optically trapped aerosols through Brownian motion
AU - Burnham, D. R.
AU - McGloin, D.
N1 - Acknowledgements: DM is a Royal Society University Research Fellow. This work was funded by the EPSRC.
PY - 2009/6/12
Y1 - 2009/6/12
N2 - Optical trapping of liquid aerosols from polydisperse samples provides unique problems for measuring their radii. Perhaps the most precise method, cavity-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (CERS), is limited to relatively large aerosols (>2μm in radius). Determining particle perimeters in video microscopy lacks precision and, although simple, can be ambiguous. Here we demonstrate a simple and precise method based on studying the Brownian motion of droplets as they approach a nearby surface. We obtain results with greater precision and reliability than video microscopy, and with no size limitation conclude the technique could compete with CERS in terms of precision and accuracy.
AB - Optical trapping of liquid aerosols from polydisperse samples provides unique problems for measuring their radii. Perhaps the most precise method, cavity-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (CERS), is limited to relatively large aerosols (>2μm in radius). Determining particle perimeters in video microscopy lacks precision and, although simple, can be ambiguous. Here we demonstrate a simple and precise method based on studying the Brownian motion of droplets as they approach a nearby surface. We obtain results with greater precision and reliability than video microscopy, and with no size limitation conclude the technique could compete with CERS in terms of precision and accuracy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67650079791&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1088/1367-2630/11/6/063022
DO - 10.1088/1367-2630/11/6/063022
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:67650079791
VL - 11
JO - New Journal of Physics
JF - New Journal of Physics
SN - 1367-2630
M1 - 063022
ER -