ERC GRANT: PHILIPPE MARMOTTANT

Philippe Marmottant and his colleagues from the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Physics have designed a specific micro-fluidic setup with a flow-focusing section dedicated to the production of calibrated micro-bubbles (~10 to 100 µm in diameter).

In recent experiments, they observed that when submitted to ultrasound waves, these micro bubbles showed a synchronised resonating vibration (see photo or follow this link to see a video), causing the amplification of acoustic-wave energy in the media. Leveraging this fundamental mechanical phenomenon, Philippe Marmottant has proposed a 5 years research program and received a grant of more than € 1.8 million to develop two main applications of ultrasounds in confined environments.

The first one will be to design a sound amplification system, according to a principle similar to the one used in LASER for light amplification, using a micro-bubble matrix as a gain medium for acoustic waves synchronisation (Sound Amplification Stimulated by Emission of Radiation – SASER).

The second application will be the design of “sound powered micro-bots”, possessing a micro-bubble matrix propeller, that can be activated by a remote ultrasound generator. Such swimming micro-bots would find applications in health as mobile drug dispensers, or as active micro stirrers in lab-on-a-chip fluidic systems where mixing issues are of utmost importance.