Optical binding and manipulation of microparticles in fluidic flow

Abstract Controllable organization and manipulation of particles has recently gain significant attention in biological and medical studies. In this work, we demonstrated optical binding and manipulation of 3 µm SiO2 particles in fluidic flow using a tapered optical fiber (TOF). Particles can be organized into one-dimension chain with different numbers by the cooperation of optical scattering force, binding force and viscous drag force. The particle chain can be shifted back and forth along the axis of the TOF by adjusting optical power or flow velocity.