Abstract

Understanding and controlling the mechanics of fluids on the microscopic scale is important both from a basic research standpoint and for industrial applications. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the field of microfluidics. Microfabricated devices such as micro-channels, valves and pumps will be used in basic biological research, from sample mixing to DNA sequencing and PCR (see for example^1,2 and references therein). As the technology of microfluidic systems matures, there will be a growing need for quantitative diagnostic techniques to measure microscopic flow fields and other fluid properties such as viscosity. The technique presented in this paper answers some of these needs and demonstrates the potential for obtaining micron-resolution three-dimensional maps of fluid velocity with a simultaneous viscosity map.

© 2002 Optical Society of America