Movable surface acoustic wave tweezers: a versatile toolbox for micromanipulation.

Area of Science:

• Acoustic manipulation
• Microrobotics
• Biomedical engineering

Background:

• Surface acoustic wave (SAW) tweezers are a key micromanipulation technology using patterned acoustic fields.
• Existing SAW tweezers have limitations in trap position and motion control due to fixed acoustic fields and reliance on signal modulation.
• Challenges include restricted degrees of freedom and working range in current SAW tweezer designs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop movable SAW tweezers with dynamic control over acoustic trap positions.
• To overcome the limitations of fixed acoustic fields in conventional SAW tweezers.
• To enable versatile and precise manipulation of diverse microscale targets.

Main Methods:

• Proposed a novel multilayer structure for movable SAW tweezers.
• Achieved dynamic control of the acoustic wave field and trap positions.
• Demonstrated manipulation capabilities including translation, rotation, and cluster formation.

Main Results:

• Successfully demonstrated precise manipulation of various microscale samples: particles, bubbles, droplets, cells, and microorganisms.
• Showcased advanced functions like in-plane and out-of-plane rotation, and controlled cluster formation.
• Validated the enhanced degree of freedom and expanded working range of the movable SAW tweezers.

Conclusions:

• Movable SAW tweezers offer improved flexibility, versatility, and biocompatibility for microtarget manipulation.
• The technology provides precise and selective control via localized wavefields and microtools.
• This movable SAW tweezer platform holds significant potential for biomedical microrobotics and arbitrary microscale manipulation.