Analysis of fluid flow around a beating artificial cilium

• Mojca Vilfan,
• Gašper Kokot,
• Andrej Vilfan,
• Natan Osterman,
• Blaž Kavčič,
• Igor Poberaj and
• Dušan Babič

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 163–171, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.16

• ; low Reynolds number hydrodynamics; magneto-optical tweezers; microfluidics; Introduction The ability to move or to generate a flow in the surrounding medium is essential for living organisms. Unicellular organisms, for example, move when searching for food or better living conditions. In

• avoid any wall effects, the flow was mapped and measured in the central part of the cell. Magneto-optical tweezers Once the cell was filled with the bead mixture, the artificial cilium was assembled with optical tweezers that were built around an inverted optical microscope (Zeiss, Axiovert 200M

• contributions average out (third term is not shown). (c) Visualisation of the fourth term in Equation 4, which has to be taken into account when calculating the generated fluid flow. Magneto-optical tweezers used in the experiment. Three pairs of water-cooled coils ensured an almost homogeneous magnetic field