via Wits University
Wits physicists demonstrate a new device for manipulating and moving tiny objects with light.
When you shine a beam of light on your hand, you don’t feel much, except for a little bit of heat generated by the beam. When you shine that same light into a world that is measured on the nano- or micro scale, the light becomes a powerful manipulating tool that you can use to move objects around – trapped securely in the light.
Researchers from the Structured Light group from the School of Physicsat the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, have found a way to use the full beam of a laser light, to control and manipulate minute objects such as single cells in a human body, tiny particles in small volume chemistry, or working on future on-chip devices.
While the specific technique, called holographic optical trapping and tweezing, is not new, the Wits Researchers found a way to optimally use the full force of the light – including vector light that was previously unavailable for this application. This forms the first vector holographic trap.
“Previously holographic traps were limited to particular classes of light (scalar light), so it is very exciting that we can reveal a holistic device that covers all classes of light, including replicating all previous trapping devices,” Professor Andrew Forbes, team leader of the collaboration and Distinguished Professor in the School of Physics where he heads up the Wits Structured Light Laboratory.
“What we have done is that we have demonstrated the first vector holographic optical trapping and tweezing system. The device allows micrometer sized particles, such as biological cells, to be captured and manipulated only with light.”
In their paper titled: A vector holographic optical trap the Wits researchers showed how to create and control any pattern of light holographically, and then used this to form a new optical trapping and tweezing device.
“In particular the device could work with both the traditional laser beams (scalar beams) as well as more complex vector beams. Vector beams are highly topical and have found many applications, but no vector holographic trap was possible until now,” says Forbes.
The Wits researchers demonstrate their new trap by holographically controlling both scalar and vector beams in the same device, advancing the state-of-the-art and introducing a new device to the community. The group expects the new device to be useful in controlled experiments in the micro- and nano-worlds, including single cell studies in biology and medicine, small volume chemical reactions, fundamental physics and for future on-chip devices.
Having previously shown that it is possible to create hundreds of custom light patterns from one hologram, the research brings together their prior work on holographic control of light with the application of optical trapping and tweezing.
Learn more: Shedding a new light on optical trapping and tweezing
The Latest on: Optical tweezers
via Google News
The Latest on: Optical tweezers
- Optical selection and sorting of nanoparticles according to quantum mechanical propertieson January 14, 2021 at 3:02 am
Optical tweezers proposed by Ashkin et al. have been used in various research fields, such as biophysics, cell biology, microfluidics, total analytical systems, and micromechanics (11, 12). Optical ...
- High-sensitivity nanophotonic sensors with passive trapping of analyte molecules in hot-spotson January 13, 2021 at 8:25 am
Dr. Liu said. "There are techniques, such as optical tweezers and dielectrophoresis, which can manipulate small particles or even molecules and deliver them to target locations such as the hot-spots.
- High-sensitivity nanophotonic sensors with passive trapping of analyte molecules in hot-spotson January 13, 2021 at 7:14 am
This is the key motivation of our optical sensor design." Dr. Liu said. "There are techniques, such as optical tweezers and dielectrophoresis, which can manipulate small particles or even molecules ...
- Optical Tweezers Market Share, Size, Analysis and Growth Forecast by Applications, Growth Factor, Types and Competitors by 2021 to 2025on January 11, 2021 at 8:14 pm
This report elaborates the market size, characteristics, and market growth factor of the Optical Tweezers industry, and breaks down according to the type, application, and consumption area of Optical ...
- Cooling of a levitated nanoparticle to the motional quantum ground stateon January 1, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Such “optical tweezers” have become a powerful tool to manipulate dielectric objects in isolation from other environments. In the domain of quantum physics, optical trapping and cooling of atoms has ...
- How sound can trap cells into clusterson December 28, 2020 at 4:00 pm
“Optical tweezers are the gold-standard technique in the field,” says Tony Jun Huang, professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State. “They can trap two cells in ...
- Bigger and better 'tweezer clock' is super stableon December 16, 2020 at 12:34 pm
Described in a Nature paper published online Dec. 16, the clock platform is a rectangular grid of about 150 strontium atoms confined individually by optical tweezers, which are created by a laser ...
- Force Labon August 19, 2020 at 12:38 pm
The optical tweezers is formed with a continuous wave Titanium-sapphire laser tuned to 830 nm and pumped by a 532 nm solid-state frequency-doubled Nd: YVO4 laser (maximum power: 6 W). The beam is then ...
- Lasers and optical tweezers get a Nobel prizeon August 12, 2020 at 2:13 am
The 2018 Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to the minds behind laser pulses and optical tweezers, and one of the winners is only the third woman to ever win the physics prize.
via Bing News
