PHOTOACOUSTIC LASER STREAMING PHENOMENA, MECHANISMS, AND APPLICATIONS
Abstract
The discovery of photoacoustic laser streaming (PALS) has opened up a new avenue to manipulate and drive fluids with light, it not only merges photoacoustics and acoustic streaming into a new research field, but also has the potential to transform the paradigm in optofluidics and microfluidics. As a promising technique, a thorough understanding of the underlying mechanisms in PALS phenomena paves the way for future applications. Therefore, this dissertation emphasizes on phenomena, mechanisms, and applications of PALS. Firstly, we start with the literature review of the theory of photoacoustics and acoustic streaming, which are the two essential aspects of PALS. Then, we demonstrate the discovery and the phenomena of PALS generated on ion-implanted quartz plates, optical fibers, and metal surfaces. After that, we show the current mechanism study approaches of PALS, including high-speed imaging, transmission photography, ultrasound detection, high-speed shadowgraph technique, and Computational Fluidic Dynamics (CFD) simulation. Finally, we illustrate the potential of PALS in microfluidic and optofluidic applications by successfully driving fluid inside a capillary tube and mixing two different solutions in PCR tubes, including but not limited to medical and biological applications.