Optical sorting of particles by dual-channel line optical tweezers

A novel configuration of dual-channel line optical tweezers with a 'Y' shape is constructed for sorting of particles within a microfluidic chip. When yeast cells with different size pass the intersection of the specially designed line optical tweezers, they are separated and transported to different channels due to a difference in the forces exerted by the line tweezers that depends on the size of the cells. The influences of some experimental conditions, such as laser power and flow velocity, on the sorting efficiency are discussed. (paper)