Dye lasing in optically manipulated liquid aerosols

We report lasing in airborne, rhodamine B-doped glycerol-water droplets with diameters ranging between 7.7 and 11.0 mu m, which were localized using optical tweezers. While being trapped near the focal point of an infrared laser, the droplets were pumped with a Q-switched green laser. Our experiments revealed nonlinear dependence of the intensity of the droplet whispering gallery modes (WGMs) on the pump laser fluence, indicating dye lasing. The average wavelength of the lasing WGMs could be tuned between 600 and 630 nm by changing the droplet size. These results may lead to new ways of probing airborne particles, exploiting the high sensitivity of stimulated emission to small perturbations in the droplet laser cavity and the gain medium

Partition-Induced Vector Chromatography in Microfluidic Devices

The transport of Brownian particles in a slit geometry in the presence of an arbitrary two-dimensional periodic energy landscape and driven by an external force or convected by a flow field is investigated by means of macrotransport theory. Analytical expressions for the probability distribution and the average migration angle of the particles are obtained under the Fick-Jackobs approximation. The migration angle is shown to differ from the orientation angle of the driving field and to strongly depend on the physical properties of the suspended species, thus providing the basis for vector chormatography, in which different species move in different directions and can be continuously fractionated. The potential of microfluidic devices as a platform for partition-induced vector chromatography is demonstrated by considering the particular case of a piece-wise constant, periodic potential that, in equilibrium, induces the spontaneous partition of different species into high and low concentration stripes, and which can be easily fabricated by patterning physically or chemically one of the surfaces of a channel. The feasibility to separate different particles of the same and different size is shown for systems in which partition is induced via 1g-gravity and Van der Waals interactions in physically and chemically patterned channels, respectively

Speeding up Quantified Bit-Vector SMT Solvers by Bit-Width Reductions and Extensions

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Preparation and characterization of superhydrophobic surfaces based on hexamethyldisilazane-modified nanoporous alumina

Superhydrophobic nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (alumina) surfaces were prepared using treatment with vapor-phase hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS). Nanoporous alumina substrates were first made using a two-step anodization process. Subsequently, a repeated modification procedure was employed for efficient incorporation of the terminal methyl groups of HMDS to the alumina surface. Morphology of the surfaces was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, showing hexagonally ordered circular nanopores with approximately 250 nm in diameter and 300 nm of interpore distances. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance analysis showed the presence of chemically bound methyl groups on the HMDS-modified nanoporous alumina surfaces. Wetting properties of these surfaces were characterized by measurements of the water contact angle which was found to reach 153.2 ± 2°. The contact angle values on HMDS-modified nanoporous alumina surfaces were found to be significantly larger than the average water contact angle of 82.9 ± 3° on smooth thin film alumina surfaces that underwent the same HMDS modification steps. The difference between the two cases was explained by the Cassie-Baxter theory of rough surface wetting

Perspective on light-induced transport of particles: from optical forces to phoretic motion

Propulsive effects of light, which often remain unnoticed in our daily-life experience, manifest themselves on spatial scales ranging from subatomic to astronomical. Light-mediated forces can indeed confine individual atoms, cooling their effective temperature very close to absolute zero, as well as contribute to cosmological phenomena such as the formation of stellar planetary systems. In this review, we focus on the transport processes that light can initiate on small spatial scales. In particular, we discuss in depth various light-induced mechanisms for the controlled transport of microscopic particles; these mechanisms rely on the direct transfer of momentum between the particles and the incident light waves, on the combination of optical forces with external forces of other nature, and on light-triggered phoretic motion. After a concise theoretical overview of the physical origins of optical forces, we describe how these forces can be harnessed to guide particles either in continuous bulk media or in the proximity of a constraining interface under various configurations of the illuminating light beams (radiative, evanescent, or plasmonic fields). Subsequently, we introduce particle transport techniques that complement optical forces with counteracting forces of non-optical nature. We finally discuss particle actuation schemes where light acts as a fine knob to trigger and/or modulate phoretic motion in spatial gradients of non-optical (e.g., electric, chemical, or temperature) fields. We conclude by outlining possible future fundamental and applied directions for research in light-induced particle transport. We believe that this comprehensive review can inspire diverse, interdisciplinary scientific communities to devise novel, unorthodox ways of assembling and manipulating materials with light

Determination of viscosity and density of fluids using frequency response of microcantilevers

We report on the simultaneous measurement of density and viscosity of nitrogen in gas and supercritical phases at 308.15 K and pressures up to 24 MPa. The density and viscosity were extracted from the measured frequency responses of an oscillated microcantilever immersed in N_2. To this end, a model of oscillatory motion of immersed cantilevers incorporating the effects of hydrodynamic forces was employed. Using argon as a reference fluid of known density and viscosity, cantilever calibration parameters were obtained from nonlinear regression of cantilever resonant frequencies and quality factors recorded in argon. Subsequently, these calibration parameters were used in the model equations to determine the density and viscosity of nitrogen at the given experimental pressure and temperature. In the studied pressure range, the root-mean-square deviations of the measured density and viscosity of nitrogen from the reference values obtained from NIST database were 2.5% and 5.2%, respectively

FRET lasing from self-assembled DNA tetrahedral nanostructures suspended in optofluidic droplet resonators

We demonstrate Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) lasing from self-assembled tetrahedral DNA complexes labeled with Cy3 and Cy5 dyes and suspended as a gain medium in aqueous microdroplet cavities deposited on a superhydrophobic surface. Threshold fluence and differential efficiency are characterized for DNA complexes containing 1Cy3-3Cy5 and 3Cy3-1Cy5. We demonstrate that at a constant Cy5 concentration, average threshold fluence is reduced 3 to 8 times and average differential efficiency is enhanced 6 to 30 times for 3Cy3-1Cy5 as compared to 1Cy3-3Cy5. Using 3Cy3-1Cy5 nanostructures, FRET lasing is observed at very low concentrations down to ∼ 1 μM. This work shows that optofluidic microlasers based on droplet resonators can be combined with DNA nanotechnology to explore applications in bio/chemical sensing and novel photonic devices