Optical sorting and detection of sub-micron objects in a motional standing wave

An extended interference pattern close to surface may result in both a transmissive or evanescent surface fields for large area manipulation of trapped particles. The affinity of differing particle sizes to a moving standing wave light pattern allows us to hold and deliver them in a bi-directional manner and importantly demonstrate experimentally particle sorting in the sub-micron region. This is performed without the need of fluid flow (static sorting). Theoretical calculations experimentally confirm that certain sizes of colloidal particles thermally hop more easily between neighboring traps. A new generic method is also presented for particle position detection in an extended periodic light pattern and applied to characterization of optical traps and particle behaviorComment: 5 pages, 6 figures, Optical Trapping pape

Three-dimensional holographic optical manipulation through a high-numerical-aperture soft-glass multimode fibre

Holographic optical tweezers (HOT) hold great promise for many applications in biophotonics, allowing the creation and measurement of minuscule forces on biomolecules, molecular motors and cells. Geometries used in HOT currently rely on bulk optics, and their exploitation in vivo is compromised by the optically turbid nature of tissues. We present an alternative HOT approach in which multiple three-dimensional (3D) traps are introduced through a high-numerical-aperture multimode optical fibre, thus enabling an equally versatile means of manipulation through channels having cross-section comparable to the size of a single cell. Our work demonstrates real-time manipulation of 3D arrangements of micro-objects, as well as manipulation inside otherwise inaccessible cavities. We show that the traps can be formed over fibre lengths exceeding 100 mm and positioned with nanometric resolution. The results provide the basis for holographic manipulation and other high-numerical-aperture techniques, including advanced microscopy, through single-core-fibre endoscopes deep inside living tissues and other complex environments

The use of solution and isothermal calorimetry for monitoring of high performance concrete hydration

The heat of hydration evolution of three cement pastes having varying water to cement ratio and one cement paste with polycarboxylate superplasticizer have been studied by means of isothermal calorimetry during the first 7 days of the hydration process and by means of solution calorimetry for up to 120 days. The results of early heat of hydration values obtained by both methods are comparable. The heat evolution of cement paste (expressed in Joules per gram of portland cement) is increasing with increasing water to cement ratio. The superplasticizer is acting as retarder in first days of hydration, but after 7 days the influence of superplasticizer is negligible. The values obtained by solution and isothermal calorimetry for other samples containing silica fume as mineral admixture differ though. The results from isothermal calorimetry show an acceleration of the hydration process by the presence of the fine particles of silica fume

Non-conservative instabilities in optical vacuum traps

Particles held in optical tweezers are commonly thought to be at thermodynamic equilibrium with their environment. Under this assumption the elastic energy of the trap is equal to the thermal energy. As a result the variance of the particle position is completely independent of viscosity and inversely proportional to the optical power in the trap. Here we show that these conditions only hold for very high symmetry cases e.g. perfectly spherical particles in unaberrated, linearly polarized Gaussian traps. Here we show that any reduction in symmetry leads to asymmetrically coupled degrees of freedom. The associated force field is linearly non-conservative and the tweezer is no longer at equilibrium. In overdamped systems the effect is a underlying systematic bias to the Brownian motion. In underdamped systems, this systematic component can accumulate momentum, eventually destabilizing the trap. We illustrate this latter effect with reference to two systems, (i) an isotropic sphere in a circularly polarized trap, and (ii) a birefringent sphere in a linearly polarized trap. In both cases the instability can be approached either by decreasing air pressure or by increasing optical power. Close to instability, the trapped particle executes increasingly coherent motion that is highly sensitive to external perturbations. Potential applications to weak force sensing are discussed.Publisher PD