Characterization of microchannel anechoic corners formed by surface acoustic waves

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) generated in a piezoelectric substrate couple with a liquid according to Snell's law such that a compressional acoustic wave propagates obliquely at a Rayleigh angle (theta(t)) inside the microchannel to form a region devoid of a direct acoustic field, which is termed a microchannel anechoic corner (MAC). In the present study, we used microchannels with various heights and widths to characterize the width of the MAC region formed by a single travelling SAW. The attenuation of high-frequency SAWs produced a strong acoustic streaming flow that moved the particles in and out of the MAC region, whereas reflections of the acoustic waves within the microchannel resulted in standing acoustic waves that trapped particles at acoustic pressure nodes located within or outside of the MAC region. A range of actuation frequencies and particle diameters were used to investigate the effects of the acoustic streaming flow and the direct acoustic radiation forces by the travelling as well as standing waves on the particle motion with respect to the MAC region. The width of the MAC (w(c)), measured experimentally by tracing the particles, increased with the height of the microchannel (h(m)) according to a simple trigonometric equation w(c) = h(m) x tan(theta(t)). Published by AIP Publishing.