Techniques that can dexterously manipulate single particles, cells, and organisms are invaluable for many applications in biology, chemistry, engineering, and physics. Here, we demonstrate standing surface acoustic wave based “acoustic tweezers” that can trap and manipulate single microparticles, cells, and entire organisms (i.e., Caenorhabditis elegans ) in a single-layer microfluidic chip. Our acoustic tweezers utilize the wide resonance band of chirped interdigital transducers to achieve real-time control of a standing surface acoustic wave field, which enables flexible manipulation of most known microparticles. The power density required by our acoustic device is significantly lower than its optical counterparts (10,000,000 times less than optical tweezers and 100 times less than optoelectronic tweezers), which renders the technique more biocompatible and amenable to miniaturization. Cell-viability tests were conducted to verify the tweezers’ compatibility with biological objects. With its advantages in biocompatibility, miniaturization, and versatility, the acoustic tweezers presented here will become a powerful tool for many disciplines of science and engineering.

Here we present an active patterning technique named "acoustic tweezers" that utilizes standing surface acoustic wave (SSAW) to manipulate and pattern cells and microparticles. This technique is capable of patterning cells and microparticles regardless of shape, size, charge or polarity. Its power intensity, approximately 5x10(5) times lower than that of optical tweezers, compares favorably with those of other active patterning methods. Flow cytometry studies have revealed it to be non-invasive. The aforementioned advantages, along with this technique's simple design and ability to be miniaturized, render the "acoustic tweezers" technique a promising tool for various applications in biology, chemistry, engineering, and materials science.

Separation of cells is a critical process for studying cell properties, disease diagnostics, and therapeutics. Cell sorting by acoustic waves offers a means to separate cells on the basis of their size and physical properties in a label-free, contactless, and biocompatible manner. The separation sensitivity and efficiency of currently available acousticbased approaches, however, are limited, thereby restricting their widespread application in research and health diagnostics. In this work, we introduce a unique configuration of tilted-angle standing surface acoustic waves (taSSAW), which are oriented at an optimally designed inclination to the flow direction in the microfluidic channel. We demonstrate that this design significantly improves the efficiency and sensitivity of acoustic separation techniques. To optimize our device design, we carried out systematic simulations of cell trajectories, matching closely with experimental results. Using numerically optimized design of taSSAW, we successfully separated 2-and 10-μm-diameter polystyrene beads with a separation efficiency of ∼99%, and separated 7.3-and 9.9-μm-polystyrene beads with an efficiency of ∼97%. We illustrate that taSSAW is capable of effectively separating particles-cells of approximately the same size and density but different compressibility. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the present technique for biological-biomedical applications by sorting MCF-7 human breast cancer cells from nonmalignant leukocytes, while preserving the integrity of the separated cells. The method introduced here thus offers a unique route for separating circulating tumor cells, and for label-free cell separation with potential applications in biological research, disease diagnostics, and clinical practice.particle separation | microfluidics | cancer cell separation | acoustofluidics | tilt-angle optimization

We designed and characterized a two-dimensional, gradient-index phononic crystal ͑GRIN PC͒ to control the propagation of acoustic waves. The GRIN PC was composed of solid cylinders arranged in a square lattice and immersed in an epoxy. The refractive index along the direction transverse to the phononic propagation was designated as a hyperbolic secant gradient distribution. This distribution was modulated by means of the density and elastic moduli of the cylinders. The effective refractive indices in each row of the GRIN PC were determined from band diagrams obtained via a plane-wave expansion method. The acoustic wave propagation was numerically investigated by a finite-difference time-domain method, and the results were compared to the analytical beam trajectories derived from the hyperbolic secant profile. These results show that the GRIN PC allows acoustic focusing over a wide range of working frequencies, making it suitable for applications such as flat acoustic lenses and couplers.

We introduce a novel microfluidic device for cell sorting in continuous flow using tunable standing surface acoustic waves. This method allows individual cells to be precisely directed into five different outlet channels in a single step. It is versatile, simple, label-free, non-invasive, and highly controllable.

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Three-dimensional (3D) continuous microparticle focusing has been achieved in a single-layer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic channel using a standing surface acoustic wave (SSAW). The SSAW was generated by the interference of two identical surface acoustic waves (SAWs) created by two parallel interdigital transducers (IDTs) on a piezoelectric substrate with a microchannel precisely bonded between them. To understand the working principle of the SSAW-based 3D focusing and investigate the position of the focal point, we computed longitudinal waves, generated by the SAWs and radiated into the fluid media from opposite sides of the microchannel, and the resultant pressure and velocity fields due to the interference and reflection of the longitudinal waves. Simulation results predict the existence of a focusing point which is in good agreement with our experimental observations. Compared with other 3D focusing techniques, this method is non-invasive, robust, energy-efficient, easy to implement, and applicable to nearly all types of microparticles.

Successful application of photonic crystals has led recently to a rapidly growing interest in the analogous acoustic effects in periodic elastic structures called phononic crystals. This study is aimed at developing a theory for two-dimensional phononic crystal consisting of materials with general anisotropy. Explicit formulations of the plane harmonic bulk wave and the surface wave dispersion relations in such a general phononic structure are derived based on the plane wave expansion method. Two-dimensional phononic structures with either the square or the hexagonal lattice are considered in the numerical examples. Band gap characteristics of the phononic structures with different anisotropic background materials ͑isotropic, cubic, hexagonal, and ortho-rhombic͒ are calculated and discussed.