Trifurcated Splitting of Water Droplets on Engineered Lithium Niobate Surfaces

PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Beam Shaping / Beam Steering Optical Trapping /-Tweezers
Published on:
Authors: Sebastian Cremaschini Sebastian Cremaschini Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “G. Galilei”, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy More by Sebastian Cremaschini Orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6416-5782 , Alberto Cattelan, Davide Ferraro, Daniele Filippi, Filippo Marinello, Alessio Meggiolaro, Matteo Pierno, Cinzia Sada, Annamaria Zaltron*, Paolo Umari*, and Giampaolo Mistura
Abstract:

Controlled splitting of liquid droplets is a key function in many microfluidic applications. In recent years, various methodologies have been used to accomplish this task. Here, we present an optofluidic technique based on an engineered surface formed by coating a z-cut iron-doped lithium niobate crystal with a lubricant-infused layer, which provides a very slippery surface. Illuminating the crystal with a light spot induces surface charges of opposite signs on the two crystal faces because of the photovoltaic effect. If the light spot is sufficiently intense, millimetric water droplets placed near the illuminated spot split into two charged fragments, one fragment being trapped by the bright spot and the other moving away from it. The latter fragment does not move randomly but rather follows one of three well-defined trajectories separated by 120°, which reflect the anisotropic crystalline structure of Fe:LiNbO3. Numerical simulations explain the behavior of water droplets in the framework of the forces induced by the interplay of pyroelectric, piezoelectric, and photovoltaic effects, which originate simultaneously inside the illuminated crystal. Such a synergetic effect can provide a valuable feature in applications that require splitting and coalescence of droplets, such as chemical microreactors and biological encapsulation and screening.

Open Access

Publication: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Issue/Year: ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2024 16 (3), 4271-4282
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c16573
Link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.3c16573

Related Papers

LETO / LETO-3 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors: Xin Zhang, Yanwen Hu, Haolin Lin, Hao Yin, Zhen Li, Shenhe Fu and Zhenqiang Chen

Flat lens–based subwavelength focusing and scanning enabled by Fourier translation

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Pulse Application / -Shaping
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Qu, Z., Wang, K., Feng, C., Wu, T., Zhang, Y., Zhao, X., & Wang, J. L.

Optofluidic sorting of microparticles using Airy beams

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Bessel-/ Airy Beam Generation,Optical Trapping /-Tweezers
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Jixiang Wang, Xin Xu, Hong Ye, Xin Zhang, and Guohua Shi

Efficient generation of high-contrast Bessel light sheets: a flexible method for improved imaging

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Bessel-/ Airy Beam Generation,Imaging/ Image Processing,Microscopy
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Treerathat Chomchok, Pemika Hirankittiwong, Apichart Pattanaporkratana, Bussayamas Phettong, Natthawat Hongkanchanakul, Pongthep Prajongtat, Tyler R. Hatch, Dharmendra Pratap Singh, and Nattaporn Chattham

Rotation of liquid crystal microdroplets in the intensity minima of an optical vortex beam

Applications: Higher Order Modes / Optical Vortex / OAM,Optical Trapping /-Tweezers
LETO / LETO-3 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Zheng Yuan, Chenchen Zhang, Yuan Gao, Wenxiang Yan, Xian Long, Zhi-Cheng Ren, Xi-Lin Wang, Jianping Ding, and Hui-Tian Wang

Dual-curvilinear beam enabled tunable manipulation of high- and low-refractive-index particles

Applications: Higher Order Modes / Optical Vortex / OAM,Optical Trapping /-Tweezers
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Juntao Hu, Wenjun Wei, Xinzhong Li, and Yixian Qian

Generation of polygonal non-diffracting beams via angular spectral phases

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Higher Order Modes / Optical Vortex / OAM,Microscopy
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:M. P. Morales Rodríguez, E. García Herrera, O. Magaña Loaiza, B. Perez-Garcia, F. Marroquín Gutíerrez, B. M. Rodríguez-Lara

Spatial light mode analogues of generalized quantum coherent states

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Higher Order Modes / Optical Vortex / OAM
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Gergely T. Iványi, Botond Nemes, Ilona Gróf, Tamás Fekete, Jana Kubacková, Zoltán Tomori, Gregor Bánó, Gaszton Vizsnyiczai, Lóránd Kelemen

Optically Actuated Soft Microrobot Family for Single-Cell Manipulation

Applications: Optical Trapping /-Tweezers
LETO / LETO-3 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Manuel Hüpfel and Gerd Ulrich Nienhaus

Beam shaping in light-sheet microscopy: an experimental analysis

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Microscopy
GAEA / GAEA-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Wenxiang Yan, Yuan Gao, Zheng Yuan, Xian Long, Zhaozhong Chen, Zhi-Cheng Ren, Xi-Lin Wang, Jianping Ding, and Hui-Tian Wang

Energy-flow-reversing dynamics in vortex beams: OAM-independent propagation and enhanced resilience

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Higher Order Modes / Optical Vortex / OAM
LETO / LETO-3 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Jian He, Jiahao Chen, Yimin Zhou, Fei Wang, Yangjian Cai, and Guoquan Zhou

Realization of double uniform line self-focusing of elliptical Airyprime beams

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Bessel-/ Airy Beam Generation
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Shuo Liu, Yi Zheng, Huiming Xiao, Shengxiang Shan, Xuejuan Liu, Sohail Ahmad, Anwar Manzoor Rana, Shubo Cheng, Wenxing Yang, Shaohua Tao

Generation of a controllable multi-spiral beam by using the modulated helico-conical phases

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Higher Order Modes / Optical Vortex / OAM,Optical Trapping /-Tweezers
GAEA / GAEA-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Chen J, Yang C, Wang D, Wang K.

Optical Imaging Method of Synthetic-Aperture Radar for Moving Targets

Applications: Adaptive Optics / Wavefront Control,Beam Shaping / Beam Steering
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Zhuo Sun, Juntao Hu, Yishu Wang, Xinzhong Li, and Yixian Qian

Generation for high-dimensional caustics and artificially tailored structured caustic beams

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Patrick Cameron, Baptiste Courme, Daniele Faccio, Hugo Defienne

Tutorial: Shaping the Spatial Correlations of Entangled Photon Pairs

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Imaging/ Image Processing,Optical Computing / Quantum Optics
GAEA / GAEA-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors: Zhongzheng Lin, Weihang Zhong, Lixun Wu, Lin He, Hongjia Chen, Jianqi Hu, Yujie Chen, Siyuan Yu

Azimuthal beam shaping in orbital angular momentum basis

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Higher Order Modes / Optical Vortex / OAM
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Zejian Ren, Xu Yan, Kai Wen, Huijin Chen, Elnur Hajiyev, Chengdong He, Gyu-Boong Jo

Creation of a tweezer array for cold atoms utilizing a generative neural network

Applications: Deep Learning / Neuronal Network,Optical Trapping /-Tweezers
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Claudio Conci, Laura Sironi, Emanuela Jacchetti, Davide Panzeri, Donato Inverso, Rebeca Martínez Vázquez, Roberto Osellame, Maddalena Collini, Giulio Cerullo, Giuseppe Chirico, Manuela Teresa Raimondi

In vivo label-free tissue histology through a microstructured imaging window

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Digital-/ Computer Holography/ CGH
LETO / LETO-3 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors: Siqing Dai, Andrei Kobitski, Amirhossein Barati Sedeh, Süheyla Eroğlu-Kayıkçı, Lennart Hilbert, and G. Ulrich Nienhaus

Photon-Efficient Aberration Correction for 3D-STED Imaging of Thick Biological Specimens Using Sensorless Adaptive Optics

Applications: Adaptive Optics / Wavefront Control,Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Microscopy
LETO / LETO-3 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Jian He, Wensong Dan, Xiang Zang, Yimin Zhou, Fei Wang, Yangjian Cai, Guoquan Zhou

How to select the dimensionless radius to realize the strongest abruptly autofocusing ability of circular Airyprime beams

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Bessel-/ Airy Beam Generation
GAEA / GAEA-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Jesper Glückstad, Andreas Erik Gejl Madsen

HoloTile Light Engine: New Digital Holographic Modalities and Applications

Applications: Adaptive Optics / Wavefront Control,Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Materials Processing / Optical Fabrication,Optical Communication,Optical Trapping /-Tweezers
LETO / LETO-3 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Zheng Yuan, Chenchen Zhang, Yuan Gao, Wenxiang Yan, Zhi-Cheng Ren, Xi-Lin Wang, Jianping Ding, Hui-Tian Wang

Versatile manipulation of light- and dark- seeking particles on demand

Applications: Beam Shaping / Beam Steering,Optical Trapping /-Tweezers
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Li, Xing, Dan, Dan, Yu, Xianghua, Zhou, Yuan, Zhang, Yanan, Gao, Wenyu, Li, Manman, Xu, Xiaohao, Yan, Shaohui and Yao, Baoli

Concentric ring optical traps for orbital rotation of particles

Applications: Higher Order Modes / Optical Vortex / OAM,Optical Trapping /-Tweezers
PLUTO / PLUTO-2 Spatial Light Modulators
Authors:Y. P. Tai, W. J. Wei, H. Zhang, H. X. Ma, X. Z. Li

Particle aggregation/disaggregation and sorting using woven spiral beams

Applications: Higher Order Modes / Optical Vortex / OAM,Optical Trapping /-Tweezers