Experiments on dielectrophoretic handling and holographic microscopy imaging of microparticles with targeted applications to biological cell manipulation and visualisation

Abstract

The present work reports experimental results on dielectrophoretic manipulation of microparticles suspended in an electro-fluidic system and further detection and characterization of them by optical means. The targeted applications are separation, visualization and characterization of suspended biological cells. The dielectrophoretic separation of microparticles is achieved by controlling the applied frequencies and voltages which depend on liquid and suspension dielectric properties. Furthermore, image acquisitions of separated microparticles were performed by digital lensless holographic microscopy and 3D digital image reconstruction. The results show that suspended dielectric microparticles can be manipulated, separated, and holographically visualized, opening the possibility to use the same setup for living cells.