Size control of vapor bubbles on a silver film by a tuned CW laser

Abstract

A vapor bubble is created by a weakly focused continuous-wave (CW) laser beam on the surface of a silver film. The temporal dynamics of the bubble is experimentally investigated with a tuned incident laser. The expansion and contraction rates of the vapor bubble are determined by the laser power. The diameter of the vapor bubble can be well controlled through tuning the laser power. A theory model is given to explain the underlying physics in the process. The method reported will have some interesting applications in micro-fluidics and bio-techniques

Growth of a Vapour Bubble in a Superheated Liquid of Variable Surface Tension and Viscosity Between Two-phase Flow

“…The importance of studying the bubble dynamics comes from its plentiful applications which can be appeared in many branches of sciences and technology like in biomedical applications as damaging of cells [7], explaining some symptoms of some diseases like DCS (Decompression Sickness) [15], explaining volcanic eruptions [4], laser applications [26], thermal ink-jet printer [1], actuation [9], mixing [23], pumping [25] and many others.…”

Optofluidic microvalve-on-a-chip with a surface plasmon-enhanced fiber optic microheater

“…More importantly, since the fiber guided laser power is mostly absorbed in the titanium film, the laser irradiation to the sample fluids will be minimal, which makes the device a safe choice for the manipulation of biological samples. In addition, unlike other microfluidic devices demonstrated for laser bubble generation, 3,19 there is no need for metal film deposition on substrates for chip fabrication, which allows for flexible chip design and simple fabrication with only polymer processes.…”

“…These vapor bubbles can be generated in a controlled manner at a designated location with an adjustable shape, size, and duration. [1][2][3][4] The controlled vapor bubbles have great potential to be used as micro-actuators, which have no mechanical moving parts, thus allow for simple actuator structure design and easy fabrication process. The vapor bubble-based micro-actuators have been widely utilized as microvalves, 5,6 micropumps, 7-9 micromixers, 10,11 bio-particle manipulators, 12 and droplet generators.…”

“…Electronic mail: mmyu@umd.edu typically used as mediums in microfluidic chips for converting optical energy to thermal energy. 3,19 However, the large optical power loss due to the light transmission through the optical path to the light absorbing medium is inevitable. Furthermore, the unwanted exposure of laser to the sample fluids poses another potential limitation, which can be especially harmful for biological samples.…”

Behavior of microbubbles on spatially controlled golden nanoparticles

“…In 2012, Hühn et al [19] studied bubble generation around nanoparticles under CW heating and to hypothesize superheating. Zheng et al [20] investigated a vapor bubble created by a focused CW laser beam on the surface of a silver film and changed the diameter and velocity of the vapor bubble by tuning the laser power. In 2013, Oara et al [21] described the bubble generation around metal nanoparticles under illumination theoretically, based on simple thermodynamics considerations.…”