Sonia Marrara
PhD Student - Messina
As a PhD student at the University of Messina and at the CNR-IPCF of Messina, within the NanoSoftLab group, my research has focused on the manipulation of particles through sound, using acoustic tweezers. By means of this setup, I was able to manipulate small particles without touching them thus avoiding any contamination. In particular, I dealt with the calibration of these tweezers by trapping small particles of polystyrene and then analyzing their fluctuations using video microscopy and laser interferometry and calculating the force constants. Recently I’m working on calibrating the instrumentation also for handling liquids. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to participate in the characterization of the physical and chemical properties of different particles such as micrometeorites and earth minerals using a combination of acoustic tweezers and a spectrometer (Raman Acoustic Tweezers).
Keywords: Acoustic Tweezers, Trapping Force Constants, Videomicroscopy, Laser Interferometry
Affiliations: OPTICA, Italian Society of Physics (SIF), EPS Young Minds and Optica Messina Student Chapter