Facilities
Our experimental rheology facilities are housed in Sequoia Hall 139, and include both bulk rheology and micro-rheology capabilities. If you are interested in applying any of our equipment to projects of your own, please contact us; we would love to hear from you!
Bulk Rheometry
Our bulk rheometry facility allows for the detailed rheological study of viscoelastic materials, and is ideally suited for the characterization of bulk soft condensed matter samples. Past applications in our lab have included biological samples such as biopolymer gels and networks, and the rheological characterization of food products. Our current instrumentation and capabilities include:
- HR-1 Rheometer from TA Instruments
- Peltier plate with temperature control, 0-200 °C
- 40mm stainless steel parallel plate geometry
Learn more about the HR-1 Rheometer and its capabilities.
Optical Tweezers
Our optical tweezers setup is based on the modular ThorLabs kit. The setup allows for precision manipulation and tracking of micron-sized dielectric objects in transparent samples. Our setup is specifically designed for active microrheology in soft condensed matter, such as polymer networks or living cells, but has wide applications for non-invasive micro-manipulation in fluids and soft matter. Our current instrumentation and capabilities include:
- 976 nm, 900 mW diode laser for trapping, producing forces of tens or hundreds of pN on micron-sized dielectric particles
- 1.25 NA, 100x magnification oil-immersion imaging Nikon objective
- 3-axis piezo stage, controlled to precision of a few nanometers
- High-sensitivity CMOS camera
- Back-focal plane quadrant detector module for nanometer-resolution particle tracking
- White light brightfield illumination and imaging
- Fluorescence illumination and imaging
High Sensitivity Force-Extension Rig
Our lab's soft matter linear extension rig is capable of high-precision force-extension measurements. The setup allows for high-precision linear length control and force measurements in the μN- and mN-range, and is used to characterize the rheology of soft condensed matter samples, such as smooth muscle tissue. Our current instrumentation includes:
- Aurora Scientific 322C-I High-Speed Length Controller
- Aurora Scientific 403B Force Transducer
- Dissection microscope with connected camera for video recording