Optical tweezers use light to immobilize microscopic particles as small as a single atom in 3D area. The basic principle behind optical tweezers is the momentum transfer between light and the item being hold. The optical trapping method has so far won 2 Nobel Prizes, one in 1997 for cooling and holding down single atoms, a second in 2018 for offering biologists with a tool to study single biomolecules such as DNA and proteins.
Their concept is to begin with a completely annular symmetric light mode that can only be transferred in the optical fiber and will not leakage into the surrounding space through the fiber tip, and have a particle to break the mode proportion and thus scatter light into the area.
Mode symmetry-broken mechanism for boosting optical trapping habits. Credit: Yuanhao LOU, Xiongjie NING, Bei WU, Yuanjie PANG
Optical tweezers utilize light to debilitate microscopic particles as little as a single atom in 3D space. The standard concept behind optical tweezers is the momentum transfer between light and the item being hold. Much comparable to the water pushing on a dam that obstructs the stream, light pushes onto objects (and likewise attracts them) that make the light bend. This so-called optical force can be developed to point to a certain point in area, where the particle will be held. In reality, the optical trapping strategy has actually up until now won 2 Nobel Prizes, one in 1997 for holding and cooling down single atoms, a 2nd in 2018 for using biologists with a tool to study single biomolecules such as DNA and proteins.
Scientists led by Prof. Yuanjie Pang at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China, are interested in fiber optical tweezers, where the light and the particles are manipulated at the tip of a fiber optics. This method removes the requirement of standard, bulky, optical devices such as microscope objectives, lenses, and mirrors.
Their concept is to start with a completely annular symmetric light mode that can only be transmitted in the optical fiber and will not leak into the surrounding space through the fiber idea, and have a particle to break the mode symmetry and therefore scatter light into the space. This way, by altering the proportion and the momentum of the light, the particle receives a reactive force that holds it at the fiber idea. The researchers forecast possible applications such as carrying out an in-vivo single bioparticle controling experiment by using the fiber optical tweezer as an endoscope in the interior of a living animal.
The work entitled “Optical trapping using transverse electromagnetic (TEM)- like mode in a coaxial nanowaveguide” was included on the cover of Frontiers of Optoelectronics.
Reference: “Optical trapping using transverse electromagnetic (TEM)- like mode in a coaxial nanowaveguide” by Yuanhao LOU, Xiongjie NING, Bei WU and Yuanjie PANG, 15 December 2021, Frontiers of Optoelectronics.DOI: 10.1007/ s12200-021-1134-3.
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About Frontiers of Optoelectronics.
Frontiers of Optoelectronics (FOE) targets at presenting the most recent research outcomes and the cutting edge improvements in the area of photonics and optoelectronics. It is dedicated to be an essential details platform for rapid interaction and exchange in between researchers in the associated areas. The journal publishes review short articles, research articles, letters, remarks, unique issues, and so on. The Editors-in-Chief are Academician Qihuang Gong from Peking University and Prof. Xinliang Zhang from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Opponent has actually been indexed by ESCI, Ei, SCOPUS, CSCD, Source Journals for Chinese Scientific and Technical Papers and Citations, and so on. Opponent is completely open access given that 2022.