Pulsed laser triggered high speed microfluidic fluorescence activated cell sorter

We report a high speed microfluidic fluorescence activated cell sorter (μFACS) capable of sorting at a throughput of 3000 beads/sec and 560 cells/sec with >;90% sample purity and 90% cell viability after sorting. The sorting mechanism is realized by exciting dynamic vapor bubbles with focused laser pulses in a microfluidic PDMS channel. The explosive bubble expansion generates fast fluid flows which are directed into a neighboring sample channel to switch the particle of interest into the collection channel. This ultrafast laser triggered switching mechanism has the potential to advance the sorting speed of the state-of-the-art μFACS.