Roadmap for optical tweezers
Journal article, 2023

Optical tweezers are tools made of light that enable contactless pushing, trapping, and manipulation of objects, ranging from atoms to space light sails. Since the pioneering work by Arthur Ashkin in the 1970s, optical tweezers have evolved into sophisticated instruments and have been employed in a broad range of applications in the life sciences, physics, and engineering. These include accurate force and torque measurement at the femtonewton level, microrheology of complex fluids, single micro- and nano-particle spectroscopy, single-cell analysis, and statistical-physics experiments. This roadmap provides insights into current investigations involving optical forces and optical tweezers from their theoretical foundations to designs and setups. It also offers perspectives for applications to a wide range of research fields, from biophysics to space exploration.

optical manipulation

optical tweezers

optical trapping

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Published in

JPhys Photonics

25157647 (eISSN)

Vol. 5 Issue 2 art. no 022501

Categorizing

Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)

Architectural Engineering

Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics

Other Physics Topics

Identifiers

DOI

10.1088/2515-7647/acb57b

More information

Latest update

3/19/2025