Related papers: Inverse Problems of Trapped Objects
We have recently demonstrated the creation of regular strings of neutral caesium atoms in a standing wave optical dipole trap using optical tweezers [Y. Miroshnychenko et al., Nature, in press (2006)]. The rearrangement is realized…
We show that the optical force field in optical tweezers with elliptically polarized beams has the opposite handedness for a wide range of particle sizes and for the most common configurations. Our method is based on the direct observation…
Light-induced rotation of absorbing microscopic particles by transfer of angular momentum from light to the material raises the possibility of optically driven micromachines. The phenomenon has been observed using elliptically polarized…
A new experimental technique for creating and imaging collisions of micron-sized droplets settling under gravity is presented. A pair of glycerol droplets is suspended in air by means of two optical traps. The droplet relative velocities…
A scheme for fast, compact, and controllable acceleration of heavy particles in vacuum is proposed, in which two counterpropagating lasers with variable frequencies drive a beat-wave structure with variable phase velocity, thus allowing for…
We present a novel approach to determine the optical properties of materials in the nanoscale range using optical tweezers (OT). Fluorescent polymer-based nanostructures (pdots) are optically trapped in a Gaussian beam OT and the trap…
Calibration of optically trapped particles in-vivo has been complicated given the frequency dependence and spatial inhomogeneity of the cytoplasmic viscosity, and the requirement of accurate knowledge of the medium refractive index.…
The use of tapered optical fibers, i.e., optical nanofibers, for spectroscopy and the detection of small numbers of particles, such as neutral atoms or molecules, has been gaining ground in recent years. In this review, we briefly introduce…
We report on the observation and measurement of the transfer of transverse angular momentum to birefringent particles several wavelengths in size. A trapped birefringent particle is much larger than the nano-particles systems for which…
Optomechanical systems have been attracting intensive attention in various physical experiments. With an optomechanical system, the displacement of or the force acting on a mechanical oscillator can be precisely measured by utilizing…
We optically trap freestanding single metallic chiral nanoparticles using a standing-wave optical tweezer. We also incorporate within the trap a polarimetric setup that allows to perform in situ chiral recognition of single enantiomers.…
Standard optical tweezers rely on optical forces that arise when a focused laser beam interacts with a microscopic particle: scattering forces, which push the particle along the beam direction, and gradient forces, which attract it towards…
We describe a method to perform a single quantum measurement of an arbitrary observable of a single ion moving in a harmonic potential. We illustrate the measurement procedure with explicit examples, namely the position and phase…
We present a compressive sensing protocol that tracks a moving object by removing static components from a scene. The implementation is carried out on a ghost imaging scheme to minimize both the number of photons and the number of…
Polar molecules represent a promising platform for quantum simulation and computation protocols. Highly controllable arrays of optical tweezers are now accessible in experiments, allowing for unprecedented control of individual molecules.…
Acoustic tweezers can manipulate microscopic objects and cells independently of the optical, magnetic and electrical properties of the objects or their medium. However, because ultrasonic waves are attenuated within few millimeters,…
Accessing the ballistic regime of single particles in liquids remains an experimental challenge that shrouds our understanding of the particle-liquid interactions on exceedingly short time scales. We demonstrate the ballistic measurements…
Optical tweezers (OT) have become an essential technique in several fields of physics, chemistry, and biology as precise micromanipulation tools and microscopic force transducers. Quantitative measurements require the accurate calibration…
We describe the design, construction, and operation of an apparatus utilizing a piezoelectric transducer for in-vacuum loading of nanoparticles into an optical trap for use in levitated optomechanics experiments. In contrast to commonly…
Optical trapping has proven to be a valuable experimental technique for precisely controlling small dielectric objects. However, due to their very nature, conventional optical traps are diffraction limited and require high intensities to…