Laminar flow limits the mixing performance and heat transfer rates that occurs within microdevices. Synthetic jets in the microscale could disrupt laminar flow and improve the performance of such devices. In this paper a synthetic microjet integrated in a microchannel was designed and fabricated using micromachining techniques. The channel flow was driven by a syringe pump at a rate of 1.39μL/s and the device was actuated using a piezoceramic disc at a frequency of 600Hz. Flow fields were measured phase locked to the actuation cycle using the MicroPIV technique in the mid plane of the jet. The resultant fields revealed a jet with a largest velocity of 2.3m/s. The average velocity during expulsion was estimated to be 0.73m/s using a comparison to the oscillatory solution to flow in a square duct. Measurements at different phases in the cycle revealed a jet strong enough to impinge on the opposing wall and the growth and decay of a pair of vortices formed at the edge of the orifice. It was also shown that the synthetic jet significantly altered the flow patterns showing promising signs for enhancing mixing and heat transfer in microchannels.

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