Summary and Outlook

Abstract

The manipulation of matter on a microscopic scale solely by means of light has dramatically gained in importance during the last decade. In particular light fields that are structured either in space or in time or both have a high potential with respect to novel applications. While the “classical” field of optical tweezers uses one of the simplest kinds of optical light fields, i.e. a stationary focused Gaussian beam, more complex light fields can increase the versatility and utility of optical micromanipulation significantly. The work presented in this thesis has identified several novel concepts that will help developing optical micromanipulation further towards application driven needs.