Multiple traps created with an inclined dual-fiber system.

Multiple optical traps allow one to manipulate multiple particles simultaneously, to characterize interactions in colloidal systems, and to assemble particles into complex structures. Most of the current multiple optical traps are realized with microscope objective-based optical tweezers, which are bulky in size. In this article, we created multiple optical traps with an inclined dual-fiber optical tweezers setup. One 3D trap and two 2D traps were formed at different vertical levels with adjustable separations and positions. We demonstrated that this fiber-based trapping system can be used as a simple block to perform multiple functions, such as particle grouping, separation, and stacking. Moreover, we found that multiple beads can be trapped and stacked up in three dimensions. Compared with those formed with objective-based optical tweezers, the multiple traps presented here are small in size and independent of the objective or the substrate, and hence hold the promise to be integrated in microfluidic systems. This fiber-based multiple traps can be used for on-chip parallel manipulation, particle separation, and characterization of interactions of colloidal and biological systems.

[1]  Kozo Taguchi,et al.  Levitation of a microscopic object using plural optical fibers , 2000 .

[2]  M W Berns,et al.  Organization of microscale objects using a microfabricated optical fiber. , 2008, Optics letters.

[3]  Fabrice Merenda,et al.  Miniaturized high-NA focusing-mirror multiple optical tweezers. , 2007, Optics express.

[4]  J. Käs,et al.  The optical stretcher: a novel laser tool to micromanipulate cells. , 2001, Biophysical journal.

[5]  A. Ashkin,et al.  History of optical trapping and manipulation of small-neutral particle, atoms, and molecules , 2000, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[6]  W Sibbett,et al.  Trapping and manipulation of low-index particles in a two-dimensional interferometric optical trap. , 2001, Optics letters.

[7]  David R. Walt,et al.  An imaging fiber-based optical tweezer array for microparticle array assembly , 2004 .

[8]  G J Brakenhoff,et al.  Micromanipulation by "multiple" optical traps created by a single fast scanning trap integrated with the bilateral confocal scanning laser microscope. , 1993, Cytometry.

[9]  Grier,et al.  Microscopic measurement of the pair interaction potential of charge-stabilized colloid. , 1994, Physical review letters.

[10]  Yuxiang Liu,et al.  Investigation of inclined dual-fiber optical tweezers for 3D manipulation and force sensing. , 2009, Optics express.

[11]  Tomáš Čižmár,et al.  A dual beam photonic crystal fiber trap for microscopic particles , 2008 .

[12]  Yoon-Kyu Song,et al.  A microscale photovoltaic neurostimulator for fiber optic delivery of functional electrical stimulation , 2007, Journal of neural engineering.

[13]  Samarendra K. Mohanty,et al.  In depth fiber optic trapping of low-index microscopic objects , 2008 .

[14]  Yael Roichman,et al.  Holographic assembly of quasicrystalline photonic heterostructures. , 2005, Optics express.

[15]  Wolfgang Singer,et al.  Self-organized array of regularly spaced microbeads in a fiber-optical trap , 2003 .

[16]  M W Berns,et al.  Parametric study of the forces on microspheres held by optical tweezers. , 1994, Applied optics.

[17]  H. Craighead.  Future lab-on-a-chip technologies for interrogating individual molecules , 2006, Nature.

[18]  M. Hegner,et al.  Optical tweezers system measuring the change in light momentum flux , 2002 .

[19]  G Delacrétaz,et al.  Combining multiple optical trapping with microflow manipulation for the rapid bioanalytics on microparticles in a chip. , 2007, The Review of scientific instruments.

[20]  G. Spalding,et al.  Computer-generated holographic optical tweezer arrays , 2000, cond-mat/0008414.

[21]  D. Grier,et al.  Optical tweezer arrays and optical substrates created with diffractive optics , 1998 .

[22]  Robert C. Gauthier,et al.  Optical trapping: a tool to assist optical machining , 1997 .

[23]  W. M. Lee,et al.  Multiple optical line traps using a single phase-only rectangular ridge , 2005 .