Abstract
We report on the demonstration of three-dimensional optical trapping inside the core of a hollow-core microstructured optical fiber specifically designed and fabricated for this purpose. Optical trapping was achieved by means of an external tweezers beam incident transversely on the fiber and focused through the fiber cladding. Trapping was achieved for a range of particle sizes from 1 to 5 µm, and manipulation of the particles in three-dimensions through the entire cross-section of the fiber core was demonstrated. Spectroscopy was also performed on single fluorescent particles, with the fluorescence captured and guided in the fiber core. Video tracking methods allowed the optical traps to be characterized and photobleaching of single particles was also observed and characterized.
Highlights
Micromanipulation using optical tweezers in a microfluidic environment has enabled a diverse range of capabilities to be explored
The sorting of microscopic particles using microfluidic flow through an optical lattice has demonstrated the feasibility of optical fractionation based on the size, shape and refractive index of microparticles [1,2]
More attention has been received by hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) (HC-PCF) and the possibility of trapping and guiding particles inside the hollow core
Summary
Micromanipulation using optical tweezers in a microfluidic environment has enabled a diverse range of capabilities to be explored. Recent studies have shown liquid-filled HC-PCF can be used to probe viscous and optical forces on microparticles [11] This combination of optical traps and HC fibers brings the possibility of interaction with the trapped particle using the optical waveguide (the hollow-core) in which the particle is trapped, beyond using the guided mode to perform the trapping. The HC fiber allows light to interact strongly with material filling the core, and this has been used, e.g., to generate frequency combs from Raman scattering in gases [12] in a silica HC fiber, or to characterize the optical rotation of a sugar solution [13] and to perform Raman spectroscopy [14] using HC microstructured polymer optical fibers (mPOF) [15,16] In the latter example, a HC-mPOF filled with a Rhodamine/silver nanoparticle suspension was used to demonstrate improvements in the detection limit of surface enhanced resonant Raman scattering (SERRS). Utilized as a waveguide, allowing spectroscopy on individual trapped particles to be conducted and photobleaching of individual particles to be observed
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