Pulse Laser Driven Ultrafast Micro and Nanofluidic Systems

这项研究的目的是研究利用超快激光空化现象的微纳流体装置及其在生物医学研究中的应用。该方法是利用激光空化效应，该效应源于水分子通过非线性光学过程在高光强区域击穿。智能优点：微米和纳米级的爆炸性蒸汽泡可以通过高度聚焦的激光在纳秒内激发，这些光束经过空间图案化并及时同步，以实现任何其他物理机制无法实现的超高速功能微流体设备。所提出的基于激光空化的微流控器件通过在快速汽泡爆炸过程中获取机械能，为高速微流控提供了范式转换性能。这首次实现了在单个芯片上对10,000~100,000个细胞/秒进行分选。超快激光空化驱动可以由紧凑、便携、电动泵浦的二维激光阵列驱动，用于大规模微流控装置的并行泵浦，通过完全消除笨重的泵和控制阀，解决了微流控系统的主要小型化问题之一。更广泛的影响：在本项目过程中形成的结果和专业知识将被纳入本科生和研究生阶段的皮？S教学活动。少数族裔研究生和本科生将通过加州大学洛杉矶分校的杰出外展计划参与这些项目。参与该项目的学生将接触到加州大学洛杉矶分校医学院和工程学院之间良好的多学科培训环境。

This objective of this research is to investigate micro- and nano-fluidic devices utilizing ultrafast laser cavitation phenomena and their applications for biomedical research. The approach is utilizing laser cavitation effects originating from breakdown of water molecules in high optical intensity regions through nonlinear optical processes. Intellectual Merit:Micro and nanoscale explosive vapor bubbles can be excited in nanoseconds by highly focused laser beams that are spatially patterned and synchronized in time to achieve functional microfluidic devices with ultrahigh speed that could not be achieved by any other physical mechanisms. The proposed laser cavitation based microfluidic devices provide paradigm-shifting performance for high speed microfluidic actuation by harvesting the mechanical energy during rapid vapor bubble explosions. This enables sorting of 10,000~100,000 cells/sec on a single chip for the first time. Ultrafast laser cavitation actuation can be driven by a compact, portable, and electrically pumped two dimensional laser array for parallel pumping of a large scale microfluidic device, solving one of the major miniaturization issue of microfluidic systems by completely eliminating the bulky pumps and control valves. Broader Impacts:Results and expertise developed during the course of this project will be incorporated into the PI?s teaching activities at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Minority graduate and undergraduate students will participate in these projects through the outstanding outreach program at UCLA. Students involved in this project will be exposed to an excellent multidisciplinary training environment between the UCLA Medical School and Engineering School.