Proper measurement of pure dielectrophoresis force acting on a RBC using optical tweezers

Mehrzad Sasanpour, Ali Azadbakht, Parisa Mollaei, and S. Nader S. Reihani

The force experienced by a neutral dielectric object in the presence of a spatially non-uniform electric field is referred to as dielectrophoresis (DEP). The proper quantification of DEP force in the single-cell level could be of great importance for the design of high-efficiency micro-fluidic systems for the separation of biological cells. In this report we show how optical tweezers can be properly utilized for proper quantification of DEP force experienced by a human RBC. By tuning the temporal frequency of the applied electric field and also performing control experiments and comparing our experimental results with that of theoretically calculated, we show that the measured force is a pure DEP force. Our results show that in the frequency range of 0.1-3 𝑀𝐻𝑧 the DEP force acting on RBC is frequency independent.

DOI