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Optical Tweezers: Principles and Applications

Philip H. Jones, Onofrio M. Maragò & Giovanni Volpe

  • Preface and Acknowledgements
  • Chapter 1 — Introduction
    • Figure 1.1 — Optical forces in the sky
    • Figure 1.2 — Basic experimental design
    • Figure 1.3 — Optical trapping regimes
  • Part I — Theory
    • Chapter 2 — Ray Optics
      • Figure 2.1 — Reflection and transmission on a prism
      • Figure 2.2 — From electromagnetic waves to rays
      • Figure 2.3 — Reflection and transmission at a planar interface
      • Figure 2.4 — Fresnel’s coefficients
      • Figure 2.5 — Ray optics forces
      • Figure 2.6 — Scattering of a ray on a sphere
      • Figure 2.7 — Trapping efficiencies
      • Figure 2.8 — Counter-propagating optical tweezers
      • Figure 2.9 — Optical trapping by two rays
      • Figure 2.10 — Focusing a paraxial light beam
      • Figure 2.11 — Optical trap stiffness
      • Figure 2.12 — Dependence of optical forces on numerical aperture
      • Figure 2.13 — Optical traps with non-uniform beams
      • Figure 2.14 — Optical force and torque on a cylinder
      • Figure 2.15 — Trapping non-convex shapes and windmill effect
      • Box 2.2 — Optical aberrations
    • Chapter 3 — Dipole Approximation
      • Figure 3.1 — Electric dipole induced on an atom
      • Figure 3.2 — Electric dipole in an electrostatic field
      • Figure 3.3 — Dipole potential and electric field
      • Figure 3.4 — Separation of charges due to polarisation
      • Figure 3.5 — Oscillating dipole
      • Figure 3.6 — Polarisability
      • Figure 3.7 — The optical theorem
      • Figure 3.8 — Gradient force
      • Figure 3.9 — Scattering force
      • Figure 3.10 — Spin-curl force
      • Figure 3.11 — Complex polarisability
      • Figure 3.12 — Dielectric function of gold
      • Figure 3.13 — Optical binding
    • Chapter 4 — Optical Beams and Focusing
      • Figure 4.1 — Optical beams and optical components
      • Figure 4.2 — Electromagnetic waves
      • Figure 4.3 — Plane waves and evanescent waves
      • Figure 4.4 — Angular spectrum representation
      • Figure 4.5 — From near field to far field
      • Figure 4.6 — Gaussian beam
      • Figure 4.7 — Hermite-Gaussian beams
      • Figure 4.8 — Laguerre-Gaussian beams
      • Figure 4.9 — Non-diffracting beams
      • Figure 4.10 — Cylindrical vector beams
      • Figure 4.11 — Focusing of an optical beam
      • Figure 4.12 — Intensity law of geometrical optics
      • Figure 4.13 — Focal fields
      • Figure 4.14 — Optical forces on a dipole
      • Figure 4.15 — Focusing near an interface
      • Figure 4.16 — Focal fields in the presence of spherical aberrations at an interface
      • Figure 4.17 — Evanescent focus
    • Chapter 5 — Electromagnetic Theory
      • Figure 5.1 — Comparison of optical forces calculated in various trapping regimes
      • Figure 5.2 — Spherical harmonics
      • Figure 5.3 — Spherical Bessel functions
      • Figure 5.4 — The scattering problem
      • Figure 5.5 — Vector spherical harmonics
      • Figure 5.6 — Mie coefficients and Mie scattering
      • Figure 5.7 — Radiation force of a plane wave on a sphere
      • Figure 5.8 — Reference frames for a focused beam
      • Figure 5.9 — Radiation force on a sphere in an optical tweezers
      • Figure 5.10 — Orbital angular momentum on a sphere
    • Chapter 6 — Computational Methods
      • Figure 6.1 — Complex non-spherical particles
      • Figure 6.2 — Discrete dipole approximation
      • Figure 6.3 — Yee grid for finite-difference time domain (FDTD)
    • Chapter 7 — Brownian Motion
      • Figure 7.1 — Brownian motion
      • Figure 7.2 — Deterministic randomness
      • Figure 7.3 — Theories of Brownian motion: Trajectories and probability distributions
      • Figure 7.4 — A random walk
      • Figure 7.5 — Simulation of white noise and random walk
      • Figure 7.6 — Simulation of the motion of an optically trapped particle
      • Figure 7.7 — ACF and MSD of an optically trapped particle
      • Figure 7.8 — Inertial and diffusive regimes
      • Figure 7.9 — Brownian particle in a diffusion gradient
  • Part II — Practice
    • Chapter 8 — Building an Optical Tweezers*
      • Figure 8.1 — Homemade optical tweezers
      • Figure 8.2 — Homemade inverted microscope
      • Figure 8.3 — Objectives
      • Figure 8.4 — Köhler illumination
      • Figure 8.5 — Contrast enhancement techniques
      • Figure 8.6 — Sample preparation
      • Figure 8.7 — Wavelength dependence of water absorption and photodamage to biological samples
      • Figure 8.8 — Alignment of the laser beam to generate an optical tweezers
      • Figure 8.9 — Beam alignment technique
      • Figure 8.10 — Back-scattered light patterns from a focused beam
      • Figure 8.11 — Lens shapes
      • Figure 8.12 — Action of lenses illustrated with ray diagrams
      • Figure 8.13 — Optically trapped particle
      • Figure 8.14 — Trap steering
    • Chapter 9 — Data Acquisition and Optical Tweezers Calibration*
      • Figure 9.1 — Optical tweezers calibration
      • Figure 9.2 — Digital video microscopy
      • Figure 9.3 — Optically trapped particle tracked by digital video microscopy
      • Figure 9.4 — Microscope calibration
      • Figure 9.5 — Interferometric position detection set-up
      • Figure 9.6 — Transverse forward scattering and transverse position detection
      • Figure 9.7 — Longitudinal forward scattering and longitudinal position detection
      • Figure 9.8 — Optically trapped particle tracked by interferometry
      • Figure 9.9 — Backward scattering position detection
      • Figure 9.10 — Potential and equipartition analysis
      • Figure 9.11 — Mean square displacement analysis
      • Figure 9.12 — Autocorrelation analysis
      • Figure 9.13 — Cross-correlation function and crosstalk reduction
      • Figure 9.14 — Power spectrum analysis
      • Figure 9.15 — Noise tests
      • Figure 9.16 — Oscillating optical tweezers
    • Chapter 10 — Photonic Force Microscope
      • Figure 10.1 — Force measurement techniques on the nanoscale
      • Figure 10.2 — Photonic force microscope
      • Figure 10.3 — Photonic force microscope with rotational force fields
      • Figure 10.3 — Photonic force microscope with rotational force fields
      • Figure 10.4 — Photonic force microscope in a rotationally symmetric potential
      • Figure 10.5 — Photonic force microscope in a non-rotationally-symmetric potential
      • Figure 10.6 — Stability diagram
      • Figure 10.7 — Force measurement from equilibrium distribution
      • Figure 10.8 — Force measurement from drift velocity
      • Figure 10.9 — Spurious force
      • Figure 10.10 — Direct force measurement
      • Figure 10.11 — Set-ups for direct force measurement
      • Box 10.1 — Total internal reflection microscopy
    • Chapter 11 — Wavefront Engineering and Holographic Optical Tweezers*
      • Figure 11.1 — Rotating particles in Laguerre-Gaussian beams
      • Figure 11.2 — HOT working principle
      • Figure 11.3 — Gratings and Fresnel lenses
      • Figure 11.4 — The Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm
      • Figure 11.5 — The adaptive-additive algorithm
      • Figure 11.6 — Laguerre-Gaussian beams
      • Figure 11.7 — HOT configurations
      • Figure 11.8 — HOT set-up
      • Figure 11.9 — Holographically optically trapped particles
    • Chapter 12 — Advanced Techniques
      • Figure 12.1 — Self-induced back action optical trap
      • Figure 12.2 — Basic configurations of spectroscopic optical tweezers
      • Figure 12.3 — Concrete implementations of spectroscopic optical tweezers
      • Figure 12.4 — Experimental realisation of colloidal quasicrystals
      • Figure 12.5 — Speckle optical tweezers
      • Figure 12.6 — Counter-propagating optical traps
      • Figure 12.7 — Optical fibre traps
      • Figure 12.8 — Evanescent wave trapping
      • Figure 12.9 — Optical waveguide forces
      • Figure 12.10 — Evanescent optical binding
      • Figure 12.11 — Plasmonic traps
      • Figure 12.12 — Self-induced back action traps
      • Figure 12.13 — User interfaces for controlling haptic optical tweezers
  • Part III — Applications
    • Chapter 13 — Single Molecule Biophysics
      • Figure 13.1 — Single molecule assay using a dual optical tweezers
      • Figure 13.2 — Probing the mechanical properties of single DNA molecules
      • Figure 13.3 — Probing DNA thermal fluctuations
      • Figure 13.4 — Twisting DNA
      • Figure 13.5 — Probing the mechanics of molecular motors
    • Chapter 14 — Cell Biology
      • Figure 14.1 — Optically guided neuronal growth
      • Figure 14.2 — Measurement of the strength of the cytoskeleton-integrin bond
      • Figure 14.3 — Measurement of bacterial adhesion forces
      • Figure 14.4 — Directed growth of neurons
    • Chapter 15 — Spectroscopy
      • Figure 15.1 — Raman spectra of optically trapped red blood cells
      • Figure 15.2 — Jablonsky diagram and photoluminescence spectrum
      • Figure 15.3 — Raman spectra of carbon tetrachloride and graphene
      • Figure 15.4 — Energy levels schemes for different scattering processes
      • Figure 15.5 — Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)
    • Chapter 16 — Optofluidics and Lab on a Chip
      • Figure 16.1 — Light-driven lab-on-a-chip concept
      • Figure 16.2 — Microfluidic sorting in a optical lattice
      • Figure 16.3 — Microfluidic sorting in a speckle pattern
      • Figure 16.4 — Fibre tweezers integrated into microfluidic devices
      • Figure 16.5 — Selective optical trapping with a photonic crystal cavity
      • Figure 16.6 — Light-driven micromachines
      • Figure 16.7 — Microassembly of reconfigurable microenvironments
    • Chapter 17 — Colloid Science
      • Figure 17.1 — Hydrodynamic synchronisation of colloids
      • Figure 17.2 — Hydrodynamic interactions between trapped colloidal particles
      • Figure 17.3 — Electrostatic interactions between trapped colloidal particles
      • Figure 17.4 — Depletion interactions between colloidal particles
    • Chapter 18 — Microchemistry
      • Figure 18.1 — Optically trapped vesicle
      • Figure 18.2 — Coagulation of optically trapped aerosol droplets
      • Figure 18.3 — Vesicle membrane manipulation by optical tweezers
      • Figure 18.4 — Controlled vesicle fusion in optical tweezers
    • Chapter 19 — Aerosol Science
      • Figure 19.1 — Photophoretic optical trap
      • Figure 19.2 — Aerosol optical tweezers
      • Figure 19.3 — Photophoretic optical trap
    • Chapter 20 — Statistical Physics
      • Figure 20.1 — Interplay of random and deterministic forces
      • Figure 20.2 — Kramers transitions
      • Figure 20.3 — Stochastic resonance
      • Figure 20.4 — Spurious drift without flux
      • Figure 20.5 — Holographically assembled quasicrystals
      • Figure 20.6 — Anomalous diffusion in a random potential
    • Chapter 21 — Nanothermodynamics
      • Figure 21.1 — Violation of the second law for microscopic systems
      • Figure 21.2 — Experimental realisation of Maxwell’s demon
      • Figure 21.3 — Microscopic Stirling cycle
    • Chapter 22 — Plasmonics
      • Figure 22.1 — Plasmonic response of metal nanostructures
      • Figure 22.2 — Trapping of plasmonic nanowires
      • Figure 22.3 — Trapping of plasmonic nanoparticles
      • Figure 22.4 — Optical binding induced by surface plasmons
      • Figure 22.5 — Plasmonic optical tweezers
      • Figure 22.6 — Optical traps based on plasmonic nanoantennas
      • Figure 22.7 — Optical traps based on plasmonic nanoapertures
    • Chapter 23 — Nanostructures
      • Figure 23.1 — Nanotweezers
      • Figure 23.2 — Photoluminescence of nanowires
      • Figure 23.3 — Carbon-based materials
      • Figure 23.4 — Optical force lithography
    • Chapter 24 — Laser Cooling and Trapping of Atoms
      • Figure 24.1 — The road towards ultra-cold atoms
      • Figure 24.2 — Two-level atom and optical molasses
      • Figure 24.3 — Sub-Doppler cooling
      • Figure 24.4 — Bose-Einstein condensation
      • Figure 24.5 — Transfer of orbital angular momentum to a BEC
      • Figure 24.6 — Arrays of holographically trapped single atoms
      • Figure 24.7 — Superfluid Mott transition
    • Chapter 25 — Towards the Quantum Regime at the Mesoscale
      • Figure 25.1 — Cavity optomechanics
      • Figure 25.2 — Laser cooling of a microparticle
      • Figure 25.3 — Laser cooling of a nanoparticle
      • Figure 25.4 — Near-resonant laser cooling
  • Software
    • OTS — the Optical Tweezers Software
    • OTGO — Optical Tweezers in Geometrical Optics
    • Code Examples
  • Videos
    • Setups — Construction and Operation
      • Optical Tweezers
      • Holographic Optical Tweezers
      • Speckle Optical Tweezers
    • Geometrical optics
      • Brownian Motion in an Optical Trap (Low NA)
      • Brownian Motion in an Optical Trap (Medium NA)
      • Brownian Motion in an Optical Trap (High NA)
      • Ray on Sphere (High Refractive Index)
      • Ray on Sphere (Low Refractive Index)
      • Trapping Efficiency (High Refractive Index)
      • Trapping Efficiency (Low Refractive Index)
      • Optical trapping of an ellipsoidal particle
      • Kramers’ transitions in a double optical trap
  • Errata
    • Signal a Mistake
  • Contact the Authors
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Part I — Theory

Chapter 2 — Ray Optics

Chapter 3 — Dipole Approximation

Chapter 4 — Optical Beams and Focusing

Chapter 5 — Electromagnetic Theory

Chapter 6 — Computational Methods

Chapter 7 — Brownian Motion

Philip H. Jones, Onofrio M. Maragò & Giovanni Volpe. Optical Tweezers: Principles and Applications. Cambridge University Press, 2015. ISBN:9781107051164