Studies of droplet manipulation in optical traps

David McGloin*, Daniel R. Burnham, Michael D. Summers, Daniel R. Rudd, Arianne Shavisi, Neil Dewar

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingPublished conference contribution

Abstract

We discuss the application of optical trapping techniques to droplets, both in air (aerosols) and in fluid (emulsions). We show the holographic optical manipulation of aerosols and how this can be used to transfer orbital angular momentum to airborne particles. We demonstrate new types of traps for aerosols in the form of dual beam fibre traps and compare the trapping efficiency of IR and visible lasers. We discuss some of the interesting dynamics that can be observed when trapping airborne particles and how this appears to differ from conventional liquid based devices. We also examine how holographic optical trapping can be used to facilitate droplet manipulation in another liquid phase. We conclude with a discussion of the difficulties associated with trapping particles in air and possible solutions and well as look at some of the anticipated applications of such work, in particular in digital microfluidics.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOptical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation IV
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007
EventNanoScience + Engineering: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) - San Diego, CA, United States
Duration: 26 Aug 200729 Aug 2007

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume6644
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Conference

ConferenceNanoScience + Engineering
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego, CA
Period26/08/0729/08/07

Keywords

  • Aerosols
  • Brownian dynamics
  • Holographic optical tweezers
  • Laser tweezers
  • Optical tweezers

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