Scaling down acoustic manipulation technology and its applications in the biomedical sector

Abstract

The focus of this thesis is to scale down single beam acoustic tweezers to achieve lower particle manipulation sizes and to explore applications with the scaled devices. The first chapter of this thesis explores the literature review relative to the scientific foundations of acoustic manipulation. It also explores the current technologies researched respective to acoustic patterning, as well as for acoustic single particle manipulation.

The second chapter presents the research undertaken in this work to scale-down single beam acoustic tweezers. Here, the theory and the methods relative to the construction of the device and the steps to achieve single particle manipulation are described. New applications are also explored such as, manipulating particles and organoids through a petri-dish and a plastic micro-tube. Also a method was implemented to visualise high and low pressure regions of the acoustic field. As a result, acoustic manipulation of a single 130-micrometer diameter particle was achieved in 3 spatial dimensions.

Additionally, manipulation of a 32-micrometer diameter particle was achieved with a 4.32 MHz twin-trap. Acoustic manipulation of a 920-micrometer embryonic stem cell organoid was also achieved. The maximum acoustic pressure achieved in the 1.76 MHz twin trap device was measured as 238 kPa. The radiation force within this trap was found to be 0.38 µN for an excitation level of 14 Vpp (peak to peak volts).

In the third chapter of this thesis, the steps, theory and methods to achieve the rotation of an intraocular lens (IOL) are described. Additionally, the initial trials of rotation by using acoustic radiation force are explored. Furthermore, it is concluded that acoustic streaming was found to achieve a better control-ability for achieving the rotation of the IOL.

These results suggest a promising future incorporation of the devices built in this work into the biology and medical sectors.

Date of Award	19 Mar 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Sponsors	CONACyT
Supervisor	Krishna Coimbatore Balram (Supervisor) & Bruce W Drinkwater (Supervisor)