Efficient mass transport by optical advection

Advection is critical for efficient mass transport. For instance, bare diffusion cannot explain the spatial and temporal scales of some of the cellular processes. The regulation of intracellular functions is strongly influenced by the transport of mass at low Reynolds numbers where viscous drag dominates inertia. Mimicking the efficacy and specificity of the cellular machinery has been a long time pursuit and, due to inherent flexibility, optical manipulation is of particular interest. However, optical forces are relatively small and cannot significantly modify diffusion properties. Here we show that the effectiveness of microparticle transport can be dramatically enhanced by recycling the optical energy through an effective optical advection process. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that this new advection mechanism permits an efficient control of collective and directional mass transport in colloidal systems. The cooperative long-range interaction between large numbers of particles can be optically manipulated to create complex flow patterns, enabling efficient and tunable transport in microfluidic lab-on-chip platforms.