A comprehensive guide to the theory, practice and applications of optical tweezers, combining state-of-the-art research with a strong pedagogic approach.

The technical development of optical tweezers, along with their application in the biological and physical sciences, has progressed significantly since the demonstration of an optical trap for micron-sized particles based on a single, tightly focused laser beam was first reported more than twenty years ago. Bringing together many landmark papers on

Thanks to the pioneering works of Ashkin and coworkers, optical tweezers (OTs) have become an invaluable tool for myriad studies throughout the natural sciences. Their success relies on the fact that they can be considered as exceptionally sensitive transducers that are able to resolve pN forces and nm displacements, with high temporal resolution, down to μs. Hence their application to study a wide range of biological phenomena such as measuring the compliance of bacterial tails, the forces exerted by a single motor protein, and the mechanical properties of human red blood cells and of individual biological molecules. The number of articles related to them totals to a whopping 58,000 (source Google Scholar)! Microrheology is a branch of rheology, but it works at micrometer length scales and with microliter sample volumes. Therefore, microrheology techniques have been revealed to be very useful tools for all those rheological/mechanical studies where rare or precious materials are employed, such as in biological and biomedical studies. The aim of this book is to provide a pedagogical introduction to the physics principles governing both the optical tweezers and their application in the field of microrheology of complex materials. This is achieved by following a linear path that starts from a narrative introduction of the "nature of light," followed by a rigorous description of the fundamental equations governing the propagation of light through matter. Moreover, some of the many possible instrumental configurations are presented, especially those that better adapt to perform microrheology measurements. In order to better appreciate the microrheological methods with optical tweezers explored in this book, informative introductions to the basic concepts of linear rheology, statistical mechanics, and the most popular microrheology techniques are also given. Furthermore, an enlightening prologue to the general applications of optical tweezers different from rheological purposes is provided at the end of the book.

This important volume contains selected papers and extensive commentaries on laser trapping and manipulation of neutral particles using radiation pressure forces. Such techniques apply to a variety of small particles, such as atoms, molecules, macroscopic dielectric particles, living cells, and organelles within cells. These optical methods have had a revolutionary impact on the fields of atomic and molecular physics, biophysics, and many aspects of nanotechnology.In atomic physics, the trapping and cooling of atoms down to nanokelvins and even picokelvin temperatures are possible. These are the lowest temperatures in the universe. This made possible the first demonstration of Bose-Einstein condensation of atomic and molecular vapors. Some of the applications are high precision atomic clocks, gyroscopes, the measurement of gravity, cryptology, atomic computers, cavity quantum electrodynamics and coherent atom lasers.A major application in biophysics is the study of the mechanical properties of the many types of motor molecules, mechanoenzymes, and other macromolecules responsible for the motion of organelles within cells and the locomotion of entire cells. Unique in vitro and in vivo assays study the driving forces, stepping motion, kinetics, and efficiency of these motors as they move along the cell's cytoskeleton. Positional and temporal resolutions have been achieved, making possible the study of RNA and DNA polymerases, as they undergo their various copying, backtracking, and error correcting functions on a single base pair basis.Many applications in nanotechnology involve particle and cell sorting, particle rotation, microfabrication of simple machines, microfluidics, and other micrometer devices. The number of applications continues to grow at a rapid rate.The author is the discoverer of optical trapping and optical tweezers. With his colleagues, he first demonstrated optical levitation, the trapping of atoms, and tweezer trapping and manipulation of living cells and biological particles.This is the only review volume covering the many fields of optical trapping and manipulation. The intention is to provide a selective guide to the literature and to teach how optical traps really work.

New possibilities have recently emerged for producing optical beams with complex and intricate structures, and for the non-contact optical manipulation of matter. Structured Light and Its Applications fully describes the electromagnetic theory, optical properties, methods and applications associated with this new technology. Detailed discussions are given of unique beam characteristics, such as optical vortices and other wavefront structures, the associated phase properties and photonic aspects, along with applications ranging from cold atom manipulation to optically driven micromachines. Features include: Comprehensive and authoritative treatments of the latest research in this area of nanophotonics, written by the leading researchers Accounts of numerous microfluidics, nanofabrication, quantum informatics and optical manipulation applications Coverage that fully spans the subject area, from fundamental theory and simulations to experimental methods and results Graduate students and established researchers in academia, national laboratories and industry will find this book an invaluable guide to the latest technologies in this rapidly developing field. Comprehensive and definitive source of the latest research in nanotechnology written by the leading people in the field From theory to applications - all is presented in detail Editor is Chair of the SPIE Nanotechnology Technical Group and is leading the way in generation and manipulation of complex beams

The optical trapping of colloidal matter is an unequalled field of technology for enabling precise handling of particles on microscopic scales, solely by the force of light. Although the basic concept of optical tweezers, which are based on a single laser beam, has matured and found a vast number of exciting applications, in particular in the life sciences, there are strong demands for more sophisticated approaches. This thesis gives an introductory overview of existing optical micromanipulation techniques and reviews the state-of-the-art of the emerging field of structured light fields and their applications in optical trapping, micromanipulation, and organisation. The author presents established, and introduces novel concepts for the holographic and non-holographic shaping of a light field. A special emphasis of the work is the demonstration of advanced applications of the thus created structured light fields in optical micromanipulation, utilising various geometries and unconventional light propagation properties. While most of the concepts developed are demonstrated with artificial microscopic reference particles, the work concludes with a comprehensive demonstration of optical control and alignment of bacterial cells, and hierarchical supramolecular organisation utilising dedicated nanocontainer particles.