Reconfiguring Surface Acoustic Wave Microfluidics via In Situ Control of Elastic Wave Polarization

We demonstrate in situ control of the elastic wave polarization in a surface acoustic wave (SAW). It allows us to create highly reconfigurable SAW microfluidics that can be switched on demand between the acoustohydrodynamic (AHD) regime and electrohydrodynamic (EHD) regime for manipulating particles and cells. The control of wave polarization comes from our experimental and theoretical identification of an unexpected shear-horizontal (SH) wave mode in a conventional Rayleigh (R) wave design, which is stereotyped to excite only vertically polarized Rayleigh SAWs. The SH wave mode is predominantly horizontally polarized and can be selectively excited to propagate in the same direction as the Rayleigh SAW. Such a selective wave generation between the SH mode and R mode allows for reconfiguration between AHD and EHD regimes that leads to unprecedented colloidal patterns and assembly dynamics. Such a reconfiguration of the particle manipulation mechanism can be explained by the controllable competition or synergism between the coexisting acoustic and electric fields. Remarkably, in the EHD regime, a virtual zero-boundary electric quadrupole is created, and a novel colloidal diamond-shaped assembly is observed in this piezoelectric-quadrupole trap, which was rarely reported in acoustic or electric microfluidics. The presented in situ control of polarization revolutionizes our understanding of SAW and acoustofluidics, expands its potential by assuming the advantages of AHD and EHD on demand, and inspires new strategies in micro- and nanoscale manufacturing and manipulation, with applications beyond fundamental scientific interest.