Abstract
Optical tweezers, laser tweezers, optical (micro) manipulation, or optical trapping are but the most common words for a class of methods that has developed to a huge range of applications in, and novel insights into, such divergent fields as e. g. theoretical thermodynamics on the one hand, and biomedicine on the other. The basic idea is simple end elegant: Light with high intensity transfers some of its momentum to a small particle and by this means exerts a force on the particle. This provides an in most aspects unique way to handle nano- and microscopic objects, ranging from simple plastic spheres to highly complex biological cells, without any kind of physical contact and on length scales that cannot easily be accessed by any other technique.
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Notes
- 1.
http://www.nobelprize.org/—the official website of the nobel prize, Sept 2011.
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Woerdemann, M. (2012). Motivation and Outline. In: Structured Light Fields. Springer Theses. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29323-8_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29323-8_1
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