Seeing double and benefiting from it - An easy way to perform 3D particle tracking, sizing and temperature measurements in microfluidics
C. Cierpka(1,2), J. König(1,2)
1: Institute of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Technische Universtität Ilmenau, Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 1, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany
2: Institute of Micro- and Nanotechnologies (IMN) MacroNano, Technische Universtität Ilmenau, Gustav-Kirchhoffstraße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany
DOI:
A new double-refractive imaging method for 3D particle tracking and sizing is presented making use of the birefringent material LiNbO3. No further modification of a typical microfluidic particle tracking velocimetry setup is needed, which opens up an easy way to 3D flow field measurements. The simultaneous measurement of the particle size enables the analysis of size-dependent phenomena. The lack of optical aberrations also allows to extract more details from other objects than spherical particles, for example pollen grains or other biological specimen. In addition, temperature measurements using lifetime imaging are presented, showing the easy extension of the method for the direct 3D determination of convective heat transfer in microsystems.
