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Lab on a Chip

Microfluidic & nanofluidic technologies for chemistry, physics, biology, and bioengineering



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Critical Review

Lab Chip, 2009, 9, 2568 - 2575, DOI: 10.1039/b907992k

Microrheology with optical tweezers

Alison Yao, Manlio Tassieri, Miles Padgett and Jonathan Cooper

Microrheology is the study of the flow of materials over small scales. It is of particular interest to those involved with investigations of fluid properties within Lab-on-a-Chip structures or within other micron-scale environments. The article briefly reviews existing active and passive methods used in the study of fluids. It then explores in greater detail the use of optical tweezers as an emerging method to investigate rheological phenomena, including, for example, viscosity and viscoelasticity, as well as the related topic of flow. The article also describes, briefly, potential future applications of this topic, in the fields of biological measurement, in general, and Lab-on-a-Chip, in particular.

Graphical abstract image for this article (ID: b907992k)