Precise characterization of micro rotors in optical tweezers

We present an optical tweezer based study of rotation of microscopic objects with shape asymmetry. Thermal fluctuations and rotations are simultaneously monitored through laser back scattering. The rotation results in a modulation in intensity of the back scattered light incident on a quadrant photo detector. This results in the manifestation of peaks at a fundamental rotational frequency and at integer harmonics, superimposed on a modified Lorentzian in the power spectrum. The multiple peaks indicate that the rotations are periodic but with varying angular velocity. We demonstrate the use of video microscopy for characterization of low reflectivity rotors, such as biological cells. The methods also enable a measurement of the average torque on the rotor, and in principle, can reveal information about its principal moments of inertia, and the role of hydrodynamics at micron levelsComment: 9 Pages, 6 Figure

Autocorrelation and relaxation time measurements on metal oxide core: dielectric shell beads in an optical trap

Optical Tweezers are capable of trapping individual particles of sizes that range from micrometers to sub micrometers. One can compute the trap strength experienced by a particle by analyzing the fluctuations in the position of the trapped particle with time. It is reported that the trap strength of a dielectric bead increases linearly with increase in the power of the trapping laser. The situation with metallic particles, however, is strongly dependent on the particle size. Available literature shows that metallic Rayleigh particles experience enhanced trap strengths when compared to dielectric particles of similar sizes due to a larger polarizability. On the contrary, micrometer sized metallic particles are poor candidates for trapping due to high reflectivity. We report here that commercially available micrometer sized metal oxide core - dielectric shell (core – shell) beads are trapped in a single beam optical tweezer in a manner similar to dielectric beads. However as the laser power is increased these core – shell beads are trapped with a reduced corner frequency, which represents a lowered trap strength, in contrast to the situation with ordinary dielectric beads. We attribute this anomaly to an increase in the temperature of the medium in the vicinity of the core – shell bead due to an enhanced dissipation of the laser power as heat. We have computed autocorrelation functions for both types of beads at various trapping laser powers and observe that the variation in the relaxation times with laser power for core - shell beads is opposite in trend to that of ordinary dielectric beads. This supports our claim of an enhanced medium temperature about the trapped core – shell bead. Since an increase in temperature should lead to a change in the local viscosity of the medium, we have estimated the ratio of viscosity to temperature for core – shell and dielectric beads of the same size. We observe that while for ordinary dielectric beads this ratio remains a constant with increasing laser power, there is a decrease for core – shell beads. We plan to extend this work towards studying the hydrodynamic correlations between a pair of trapped beads where one of the beads acts as a heat source. © (2016) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only

Probing the interaction between two microspheres in a single Gaussian beam optical trap

Interactions between trapped microspheres have been studied in two geometries so far: (i) using line optical tweezers and (ii) in traps using two counter propagating laser beams. In both trap geometries, the stable inter bead separations have been attributed to optical binding. One could also trap two such beads in a single beam Gaussian laser trap. While there are reports that address this configuration through theoretical or simulation based treatments, there has so far been no detailed experimental work that measures the interactions. In this work, we have recorded simultaneously the fluctuation spectra of two beads trapped along the laser propagation direction in a single Gaussian beam trap by measuring the back scattered signal from the trapping and a tracking laser beam that are counter propagating . The backscattering from the trapping laser monitors the bead encountered earlier in the propagation path. The counter propagating tracking laser, on the other hand, is used to monitor the fluctuations of the second bead. Detection is by using quadrant photo detectors placed at either end. The autocorrelation functions of both beads reveal marked departures from that obtained when there is only one bead in the trap. Moreover, the fall-off profiles of the autocorrelation indicates the presence of more than one relaxation time. This indicates a method of detecting the presence of a second bead in a trap without directly carrying out measurements on it. Further, a careful analysis of the relaxation times could also reveal the nature of interactions between the beads. © (2016) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only

Estimation of Membrane Bending Modulus of Stiffness Tuned Human Red Blood Cells from Micropore Filtration Studies

Human red blood cells (RBCs) need to deform in order to pass through capillaries in human vasculature with diameter smaller than that of the RBC. An altered RBC cell membrane stiffness (CMS), thereby, is likely to have consequences on their flow rate. RBC CMS is known to be affected by several commonly encountered disease conditions. This study was carried out to investigate whether an increase in RBC CMS, to the extent seen in such commonly encountered medical conditions, affects the RBC flow rate through channels with diameters comparable to that of the RBC. To do this, we use RBCs extracted from a healthy individual with no known medical conditions and treated with various concentrations of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA). We study their flow through polycarbonate membranes with pores of diameter 5μm and 8μm which are smaller than and comparable to the RBC diameter respectively. The studies are carried out at constant hematocrit and volumetric flow rate. We find that when the diameter of the capillary is smaller than that of the RBC, the flow rate of the RBCs is lowered as the concentration of BSA is increased while the reverse is true when the diameter is comparable to that of the RBC. We confirm that this is a consequence of altered CMS of the RBCs from their reorientation dynamics in an Optical Tweezer. We find that a treatment with 0.50mg/ml BSA mimics the situation for RBCs extracted from a healthy individual while concentrations higher than 0.50mg/ml elevate the RBC CMS across a range expected for individuals with a condition of hyperglycemia. Using a simple theoretical model of the RBC deformation process at the entry of a narrow channel, we extract the RBC membrane bending modulus from their flow rate. FT PubMed

Trap Stiffness Modification of an Optically Trapped Microsphere through Directed Motion of Nanoparticles

We report an enhancement in the corner frequency of an optically trapped non-magnetic microsphere in the plane perpendicular to the laser propagation direction on addition of ferrofluid to the suspension medium. We conjecture that a directed motion of the nanoparticles toward the trap in this plane is responsible for the augmentation. Changes in the corner frequency in the presence of external magnetic field gradients lend credence to this conjecture. Corner frequency augmentation is also observed when zinc oxide nanoparticles are used. Here, however, no further changes are seen in the presence of magnetic field gradients

Particle motion in the field of a five-dimensional charged black hole

In this paper, we have investigated the geodesics of neutral particles near a five-dimensional charged black hole using a comparative approach. The effective potential method is used to determine the location of the horizons and to study radial and circular trajectories. This also helps us to analyze the stability of radial and circular orbits. The radius of the innermost stable circular orbits have also been determined. Contrary to the case of massive particles for which, the circular orbits may have up to eight possible values of specific radius, we find that the photons will only have two distinct values for the specific radii of circular trajectories. Finally we have used the dynamical systems analysis to determine the critical points and the nature of the trajectories for the timelike and null geodesics.Comment: 15 pages, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc