posted on 2020-06-23, 21:14authored byYuyang Gu, Chuyi Chen, Joseph Rufo, Chen Shen, Zeyu Wang, Po-Hsun Huang, Hai Fu, Peiran Zhang, Steven A Cummer, Zhenhua Tian, Tony Jun Huang
Acoustic-based techniques can manipulate particles in a label-free,
contact-free, and biocompatible manner. However, most previous work
in acoustic manipulation has been constrained by axisymmetric patterns
of pressure nodes and antinodes. Acoustic holography is an emerging
technique that offers the potential to generate arbitrary pressure
distributions which can be applied to particle manipulation with higher
degrees of freedom. However, since current acoustic holography techniques
rely on acoustic radiation forces, which decrease dramatically when
the target particle size decreases, they have difficulty manipulating
particles in the micro/nanoscale. Here, we introduce a holography
technique that leverages both an arbitrary acoustic field and controllable
fluid motion to offer an effective approach for manipulating micro/nano
particles. Our approach, termed acoustofluidic holography (AFH), can
manipulate a variety of materials, including cells, polymers, and
metals, across sizes ranging from hundreds of micrometers to tens
of nanometers.