DELVILLE , Jean-Pierre

It was recently demonstrated by our group that a focused laser beam could be used to produce a net force on a moving microfluidic drop. The aim of the paper is to establish a scaling law for this net force by a examining the closely related but simpler situation of a very thin stationary circular drop of fixed shape submitted to a...

Droplets are natural candidates for use as microfluidic reactors, if active control of their formation and transport can be achieved. We show here that localized heating from a laser can block the motion of a water-oil interface, acting as a microfluidic valve for two-phase flows. A theoretical model is developed to explain the forces acting on...