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Monday, August 31, 2020

Controlled rotation of cells using a single-beam anisotropic optical trap

Zihao Shan, Enfan Zhang, Dun Pi, Huiyao Gu, Wen Cao, Feng Lin, Zhen Cai, Xingkun Wu

Non-contact, noninvasive techniques to control the orientation of single living cells are highly valuable for biological research and clinical applications. We experimentally demonstrate a single-beam, single-fiber optical manipulation technique using an anisotropic, four-lobed light field propagated by low-order fiber mode LP21. The laser beam forms a rotationally non-axisymmetric optical multi-trap that may be directed to a spatial location on-demand, capable of cell translation, rotation, and orientation-holding with emitted power as low as 10 mW. We further developed a T-matrix based simulation method that can numerically model and optimize parameters that vary desired laser trap opto-mechanical properties, such as holding torque and capture efficiency. The demonstrated technique is easy to implement for cell micro-manipulation in complex research environments with multi-side occlusion, such as within a microfluidic channel in a lab-on-chip system, and may be used in conjunction with additional units for low-profile three-dimensional rotation and translation, or with other magnetic or electrical manipulation techniques.

DOI

Optothermal generation, trapping, and manipulation of microbubbles

J. A. Sarabia-Alonso, J. G. Ortega-Mendoza, J. C. Ramírez-San-Juan, P. Zaca-Morán, J. Ramírez-Ramírez, A. Padilla-Vivanco, F. M. Muñoz-Pérez, and R. Ramos-García

The most common approach to optically generate and manipulate bubbles in liquids involves temperature gradients induced by CW lasers. In this work, we present a method to accomplish both the generation of microbubbles and their 3D manipulation in ethanol through optothermal forces. These forces are triggered by light absorption from a nanosecond pulsed laser (λ = 532 nm) at silver nanoparticles photodeposited at the distal end of a multimode optical fiber. Light absorbed from each laser pulse quickly heats up the silver-ethanol interface beyond the ethanol critical-point (∼ 243 °C) before the heat diffuses through the liquid. Therefore, the liquid achieves a metastable state and owing to spontaneous nucleation converted to a vapor bubble attached to the optical fiber. The bubble grows with semi-spherical shape producing a counterjet in the final stage of the collapse. This jet reaches the hot nanoparticles vaporizing almost immediately and ejecting a microbubble. This microbubble-generation mechanism takes place with every laser pulse (10 kHz repetition rate) leading to the generation of a microbubbles stream. The microbubbles' velocities decrease as they move away from the optical fiber and eventually coalesce forming a larger bubble. The larger bubble is attracted to the optical fiber by the Marangoni force once it reaches a critical size while being continuously fed with each bubble of the microbubbles stream. The balance of the optothermal forces owing to the laser-pulse drives the 3D manipulation of the main bubble. A complete characterization of the trapping conditions is provided in this paper.

DOI

Nanoscale rotational optical manipulation

Masayuki Hoshina, Nobuhiko Yokoshi, and Hajime Ishihara

Light has momentum, and hence, it can move small particles. The optical tweezer, invented by Ashkin et al. [Opt. Lett. 11, 288 (1986)] is a representative application. It traps and manipulates microparticles and has led to great successes in the biosciences. Currently, optical manipulation of “nano-objects” is attracting growing attention, and new techniques have been proposed and realized. For flexible manipulation, push–pull switching [Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 087402 (2012)] and super-resolution trapping by using the electronic resonance of nano-objects have been proposed [ACS Photonics 5, 318 (2017)]. However, regarding the “rotational operation” of nano-objects, the full potential of optical manipulation remains unknown. This study proposes mechanisms to realize rotation and direction switching of nano-objects in macroscopic and nanoscopic areas. By controlling the balance between the dissipative force and the gradient force by using optical nonlinearity, the direction of the macroscopic rotational motion of nano-objects is switched. Further, conversion between the spin angular momentum and orbital angular momentum by light scattering through localized surface plasmon resonance in metallic nano-complexes induces optical force for rotational motion in the nanoscale area. This study pieces out fundamental operations of the nanoscale optical manipulation of nanoparticles.

DOI

Miniature force sensor for absolute laser power measurements via radiation pressure at hundreds of watts

Alexandra B. Artusio-Glimpse, Ivan Ryger, Natalia A. Azarova, Paul A. Williams, Joshua A. Hadler, and John H. Lehman

We present a small power meter that detects the radiation pressure of an incident high-power laser. Given its small package and non-destructive interaction with the laser, this power meter is well suited to realizing a robust real-time, high-accuracy power measurement in laser-based manufacturing environments. The incident laser power is determined through interferometric measurement of displacement of a 20 mm diameter high reflectivity mirror, mounted at the center of a dual element spiral flexure. This device can measure laser power from 25 W to 400 W with a 260 mW/Hz−−−√ noise floor and ≤ 3.2% expanded uncertainty. We validate our device against a calibrated thermopile with simultaneous measurements of an unpolarized 1070 nm laser and report good agreement between the two systems. Finally, by referencing to an identical mechanical spring that does not see the incident laser, we suppress vibration noise in the power measurement by 14.8 dB over a 600 Hz measured bandwidth. This is an improvement over other radiation pressure based power meters that have previously been demonstrated.

DOI

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Establishment of an optical trapping curve for prediction of trapping parameters

Ayush Owhal, Dipankar Boruah, Sachin U. Belgamwar

Optical trapping is widely used to manipulate a small-sized particle freely suspended in the isotropic fluidic domain. Trapping is done by means of optical forces developed by conversing light beam. The active gradient forces, depends upon parameters like light wavelength, particle size, and refractive index of medium and particle. The viscous drag forces, depends upon parameter like viscosity of fluid, relative velocity of particle with respect to medium. The necessary condition for particle trapping is to maintain > . In this paper, a graphical approach is applied to predetermine the value of specific parameter such as relative velocity of particle and light wavelength under the necessary condition for optical trapping, while keeping other parameters are as fixed. Software simulation is performed with set of relative velocities on polystyrene small-sized particle in water channel to validate the graphical approach.

DOI

Optical trapping Rayleigh particles with a twist effect

Yao Zhang, Haoran Yan, Daomu Zhao

We theoretically and numerically investigate the focusing properties and the radiation forces produced by a focused rotating anisotropic generalized multi-Gaussian Schell model (RAGMGSM) beam. We find that for different parameters at the trapped plane, the intensity distribution would evolve into an elliptical dark hollow or elongated Gaussian beam profile. Compared to the focal plane, the trapped plane has an axial displacement due to the twist effects. Further, we demonstrate that two types of particles at different positions of the trapped plane can be trapped and rotated simultaneously by such a focused beam. Moreover, the influences of the beam index M, the coherence width δ, and the twist factor u on the radiation forces is elucidated respectively. The limits of each parameter for stability of optical trapping under a certain condition are explicitly discussed.

DOI

Optical pulling forces and their applications

Hang Li, Yongyin Cao, Lei-Ming Zhou, Xiaohao Xu, Tongtong Zhu, Yuzhi Shi, Cheng-Wei Qiu, and Weiqiang Ding

Optical manipulations utilizing the mechanical effect of light have been indispensable in various disciplines. Among those various manipulations, optical pulling has emerged recently as an attractive notion and captivated the popular imagination, not only because it constitutes a rich family of counterintuitive phenomena compared with traditional manipulations but also due to the profound physics underneath and potential applications. Beginning with a general introduction to optical forces, related theories, and methods, we review the progresses achieved in optical pulling forces using different mechanisms and configurations. Similar pulling forces in other forms of waves, including acoustic, water, and quantum matter waves, are also integrated. More importantly, we also include the progresses in counterintuitive left-handed optical torque and lateral optical force as the extensions of the pulling force. As a new manipulation degree of freedom, optical pulling force and related effects have potential applications in remote mass transportation, optical rotating, and optical sorting. They may also stimulate the investigations of counterintuitive phenomena in other forms of waves.

DOI

Nanoplastic Analysis by Online Coupling of Raman Microscopy and Field-Flow Fractionation Enabled by Optical Tweezers

Christian Schwaferts, Vanessa Sogne, Roland Welz, Florian Meier, Thorsten Klein, Reinhard Niessner, Martin Elsner, and Natalia P. Ivleva

Nanoplastic pollution is an emerging environmental concern, but current analytical approaches are facing limitations in this size range. However, the coupling of nanoparticle separation with chemical characterization bears potential to close this gap. Here, we realize the hyphenation of particle separation/characterization (field-flow fractionation (FFF), UV, and multiangle light scattering) with subsequent chemical identification by online Raman microspectroscopy (RM). The problem of low Raman scattering was overcome by trapping particles with 2D optical tweezers. This setup enabled RM to identify particles of different materials (polymers and inorganic) in the size range from 200 nm to 5 μm, with concentrations in the order of 1 mg/L (109 particles L–1). The hyphenation was realized for asymmetric flow FFF and centrifugal FFF, which separate particles on the basis of different properties. This technique shows potential for application in nanoplastic analysis, as well as many other fields of nanomaterial characterization.

DOI

Vortex preserving statistical optical beams

Zhiheng Xu, Xiaofei Li, Xin Liu, Sergey A. Ponomarenko, Yangjian Cai, and Chunhao Liang

We establish a general form of the cross-spectral density of statistical sources that generate vortex preserving partially coherent beams on propagation through any linear ABCD optical system. We illustrate our results by introducing a class of partially coherent vortex beams with a closed form cross-spectral density at the source and demonstrating the beam vortex structure preservation on free space propagation and imaging by a thin lens. We also show the capacity of such vortex preserving beams of any state of spatial coherence to trap nanoparticles with the refractive index smaller than that of a surrounding medium.

DOI

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Opto-thermoelectric speckle tweezers

Abhay Kotnala, Pavana Siddhartha Kollipara and Yuebing Zheng

Opto-thermoelectric tweezers present a new paradigm for optical trapping and manipulation of particles using low-power and simple optics. New real-life applications of opto-thermoelectric tweezers in areas such as biophysics, microfluidics, and nanomanufacturing will require them to have large-scale and high-throughput manipulation capabilities in complex environments. Here, we present opto-thermoelectric speckle tweezers, which use speckle field consisting of many randomly distributed thermal hotspots that arise from an optical speckle pattern to trap multiple particles over large areas. By further integrating the speckle tweezers with a microfluidic system, we experimentally demonstrate their application for size-based nanoparticle filtration. With their low-power operation, simplicity, and versatility, opto-thermoelectric speckle tweezers will broaden the applications of optical manipulation techniques.

DOI