Fundamental limitations on dielectrophoretic forces

Abstract This work introduces a rigorous framework for systematically determining fundamental performance bounds in the context of negative dielectrophoresis. To achieve this, we apply quadratically constrained quadratic programming, a powerful optimization approach particularly well-suited for quantifying theoretical performance limits under well-defined physical constraints. We generalize these results to experimentally relevant two-dimensional electrode geometries while explicitly partitioning the design domain into controllable and uncontrollable regions consistent with experimental constraints. Furthermore, we discuss the use of topology optimization techniques to identify electrode layouts that can experimentally achieve performance close to the derived theoretical limits, thus bridging the gap between theoretical analysis and practical experimental realization.