|
 |
Silica Spheres Dispersed in Water
Caption:
This image is a (false-colored) video micrograph of colloidal silica spheres dispersed in water and organized into a micrometer-scale mixer by torque-exerting optical traps known as optical vortices.
The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center Program supported this research. Its earlier stages were also supported by a single-investigator NSF grant. In addition to NSF support, the project was funded by the W.M. Keck Foundation, as well as by a research grant from our industrial partner, Arryx, Inc. [Note: This image is copyright. Please see "Restrictions," below.]
More about this Image
The 3 x 3 array of optical vortices shown here was created with a computer-designed hologram and projected with the same microscope objective lens used to create the image. Each optical vortex is a ring of intense laser illumination that captures mesoscopic objects with optical gradient forces. Once trapped, the particles are subjected to torques exerted by the orbital angular momentum carried by the specially prepared beams of light. The particles in each ring circulate at up to 1000 revolutions per minute (RPM), generating hundred-nanometer-scale flows in the surrounding fluid. Optical vortex arrays therefore act as optical assembled and actuated pumps and mixers in the mesoscopic domain.
Optical tweezers use the forces exerted by a strongly focused beam of light to trap and move objects ranging in size from tens of nanometers to tens of micrometres. Since their introduction in 1986, the optical tweezer has become an important tool for research in the fields of biology, physical chemistry and soft condensed matter physics. Recent advances promise to take optical tweezers out of the laboratory and into the mainstream of manufacturing and diagnostics; they may even become consumer products. The next generation of single-beam optical traps offers revolutionary new opportunities for fundamental and applied research.
(Preview Only)
|
| Credit: |
©2001, D. G. Grier, New York University, J. E. Curtis and B. A. Koss. Further information is available at www.physics.nyu.edu/grierlab/hot/ |
| Year of Image: |
2001 |
|
Categories:
MATERIALS RESEARCH / General
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Formats Available:
JPEG Format - 2.3M - 897 x 897 pixel image - 72 DPI
Sorry! This image is not available in a higher resolution format.
Restrictions:
Important: Permission has been granted to use this image for personal and educational purposes only. Any other use of this image is prohibited without the express permission of the owner.
|
