Acoustofluidics and Metamaterials

Acoustofluidics exploits the forces produced by ultrasonic fields to control particle motion and fluid flow. The resulting particle trapping, manipulation, and transport has a wide range of potential applications in biomedical research and beyond. There is a growing appreciation for the ways in which metamaterials can help control and shape ultrasonic acoustic fields and thus enable unique configurations of particle and flow control. My research group has, undertaken several research efforts, in collaboration with colleagues at Duke University and elsewhere, to explore new ways to link acoustofluidics and metamaterials. I will first give a short introduction to acoustic metamaterials and provide some examples of surprising technical areas in which acoustics is important. I will then provide a summary of our more recent work, highlighting the ways in which metamaterials concepts can contribute to acoustofluidic functionality.