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Updated: Apr 21, 2026

Microparticle Manipulation by Standing Surface Acoustic Waves with Dual-frequency Excitations
Published on: August 21, 2018
Acoustic radiation force and torque on an absorbing compressible particle in an inviscid fluid
1Physical Acoustics Group, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, AL 57072-900, Brazil.
Abstract:
Exact formulas of the acoustic radiation force and torque exerted by an arbitrary time-harmonic wave on an absorbing compressible particle that is suspended in an inviscid fluid are presented. It is considered that the particle diameter is much smaller than the incident wavelength, i.e., the so-called Rayleigh scattering limit. Moreover, the particle absorption assumed here is due to the attenuation of compressional waves only. Shear waves inside and outside the particle are neglected, since the inner and outer viscous boundary layer of the particle are supposed to be much smaller than the particle radius. The obtained radiation force formulas are used to establish the trapping conditions of a particle by a single-beam acoustical tweezer based on a spherically focused ultrasound transducer. In this case, it is shown that the particle absorption has a pivotal role in single-beam trapping at the transducer focal region. Furthermore, it is found that only the first-order Bessel vortex beam can generate the radiation torque on a small particle. In addition, numerical evaluation of the radiation force and torque exerted on a benzene and an olive oil droplet suspended in water are presented and discussed.
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