Fluid flow analysis in microfluidic devices by spectral-domain optical Doppler tomography

摘要

Microfluidic devices are becoming increasingly popular for many applications, enabling biological and chemical reactions to be performed with nano- and picoliter sample volumes. Accurate measurement and monitoring of fluid flow behavior in the small channels of microfluidic systems is important for evaluating the performance of existing devices, and in the modeling and design of new microfluidic networks. We present here the results of experiments using spectral-domain optical Doppler tomography (SD-ODT) to measure fluid flow in single-layer microfluidic devices. The principles behind flow imaging with SD-ODT are reviewed, a method for velocity calibration is described, and cross-sectional and en-face images of fluid velocity in microfluidic channels are presented.