Real-time Functional Analysis of Inertial Microfluidic Devices via Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography.

We report the application of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) technology that enables real-time functional analysis of sorting microparticles and cells in an inertial microfluidic device. We demonstrated high-speed, high-resolution acquisition of cross-sectional images at a frame rate of 350 Hz, with a lateral resolution of 3 μm and an axial resolution of 1 μm within the microfluidic channel filled with water. We analyzed the temporal sequence of cross-sectional SD-OCT images to determine the position and diameter of microspheres in a spiral microfluidic channel under various flow rates.