Abstract
Optical trapping has enabled a multitude of applications focusing, in particular, on non-invasive studies of cellular material. The full potential of optical trapping has, however, not yet been exploited due to restricted access to the trapped samples, caused by high numerical aperture objectives needed to focus the trapping laser beams. Here, we use our recently developed biophotonics workstation to overcome this limitation by introducing probing and spectroscopic characterization of optically trapped particles in a side-view geometry perpendicular to the trapping beams rather than in the traditional top-view geometry parallel to the trapping beams. Our method is illustrated by CARS and fluorescence spectroscopy of trapped polystyrene beads. The side-view geometry opens intriguing possibilities for accessing trapped particles with optical as well as other types of probe methods independent from the trapping process.
Highlights
Optical tweezers have caused a revolution in trapping and manipulation of nano- and micrometer sized particles using strongly focused laser beams [1]–[3]
The biophotonics workstation can host a variety of characterization tools along the independent orthogonal axis, such as linear and nonlinear microscopy and microspectroscopy
10μm In Figure 4(a)–(d) we present a sequence of images showing a 10 μm polystyrene bead in liquid water trapped in the biophotonics workstation
Summary
Optical tweezers have caused a revolution in trapping and manipulation of nano- and micrometer sized particles using strongly focused laser beams [1]–[3] This has enabled a multitude of applications focusing, in particular, on non-invasive studies of cellular material. The acquisition time of the Raman spectrum was several minutes and again a high numerical aperture was required for the holographic optical tweezers In these cases, the high numerical aperture objectives needed to focus the trapping laser beams restricts the access to the trapped samples, which restricts the potential utility of the combined user-controlled manipulation and monitoring. Stricted operating region between the fiber tips Scaling these systems to multiple traps capable of independent and arbitrary three-dimensional manipulation is nontrivial even based on purely geometrical constraints that can obscure the available orthogonal access.
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