Optically driven fluid flow along arbitrary microscale patterns using thermoviscous expansion

We show how fluid can be moved by a laser scanning microscope. Selected parts of a fluid film are pumped along the path of a moving warm spot which is generated by the repetitive motion of an infrared laser focus. With this technique, we remotely drive arbitrary two-dimensional fluid flow patterns with a resolution of 2μm. Pump speeds of 150μm∕s are reached in water with a maximal temperature increase in the local spot of 10K. Various experiments confirm that the fluid motion results from the dynamic thermal expansion in a gradient of viscosity. The viscosity in the spot is reduced by its enhanced temperature. This leads to a broken symmetry between thermal expansion and thermal contraction in the front and the wake of the spot. As result the fluid moves opposite to the spot direction due to both the asymmetric thermal expansion in the spot front and the asymmetric thermal contraction in its wake. We derive an analytical expression for the fluid speed from the Navier–Stokes equations. Its predictions are experimentally confirmed without fitting parameters under a number of different conditions. In water, this nonlinearity leads to a fluid step of 100nm for each passage of the spot. Since the spot movement can be repeated in the kilohertz regime, fluid speeds can exceed 100μm∕s. Using this technique, we pump nanoparticles over millimeters through a gel. An all-optical creation of a dilution series of DNA and biomolecules by aliquotation and mixing is demonstrated for fluids sandwiched between untreated and unstructured, disposable microscope cover slips. The shown optical remote control of fluid flow expands the microfluidic paradigm into previously inaccessible regimes of tiny volumes, closed flow paths, fast switching between flow patterns, and remote fluid control under extreme fluid conditions.