Synonyms
Definition
Optical tweezing is the stable three-dimensional trapping of dielectric substances by the creation of strong light-intensity gradients such as by focusing a laser beam to a diffraction-limited spot. Although originally created using counter-propagating laser beams, most optical tweezers today use a single beam of laser light which is focused to a diffraction-limited spot, the spot being the trapping zone.
Overview
Optical trapping refers to the manipulation of extremely small objects using forces generated by light. The field was pioneered by Arthur Ashkin in the 1970s at Bell Labs. His groundbreaking work demonstrated that forces generated by light could capture micrometer-sized particles in a stable three-dimensional trap. Although Ashkin in his early work used counter-propagating laser beams to capture such miniature particles, present-day optical traps generally employ only single laser beams. What exactly causes particles to get “caught” in laser...
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References
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Kumar, A., Ewing, A.H., Wereley, S.T. (2014). Optical Tweezers for Manipulating Cells and Particles. In: Li, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27758-0_1162-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27758-0_1162-2
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