Patent ID: 9533306
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: B01L

Claim:
1. An apparatus for optically manipulating one or more droplets, comprising: a featureless photoconductive layer; a first electrode and a second electrode disposed laterally along a plane of said featureless photoconductive layer, there being a gap between said first electrode and said second electrode, wherein said featureless photoconductive layer comprises a conductive path from said first electrode to said second electrode; a voltage source connected to said first and second electrodes for producing a lateral electric field between said first and second electrodes in said featureless photoconductive layer; and a hydrophobic dielectric layer disposed over said featureless photoconductive layer and configured for retaining a first fluid and the one or more droplets of a second fluid; wherein each droplet of said second fluid is subject to transport along a surface of said hydrophobic dielectric layer in response to a difference between a contact angle of a first edge of said droplet with respect to said surface and a contact angle of a second edge of said droplet with respect to said surface; wherein said difference is induced in response to a difference in optical illumination of a first region of said featureless photoconductive layer adjacent said first edge and optical illumination of a second region of said featureless photoconductive layer adjacent said second edge, said first region and said second region each forming part of said conductive path of said featureless photoconductive layer; wherein said gap between said first electrode and said second electrode is larger than an area of said hydrophobic dielectric layer contacted by the one or more droplets of said second fluid having a volume of at least 250 picoliters; and wherein said first region and said second region are adjacent to said gap.