Engineering optically driven micromachines

Optical forces and torques acting on microscopic objects trapped in focussed laser beams promise flexible methods of driving micromachines through a microscope cover slip or even a cell wall. We are endeavouring to engineer special purpose micro-objects for a range of tasks. Colloidal self assembly of calcium carbonate provides birefringent spheres which can exert considerable torque, while two photon polymerisation allows us to fabricate objects of arbitrary shape that can be designed to exchange both spin and orbital angular momentum. Numerical calculations of forces and torques can allow an optimal design, and optical measurements provide us with certain knowledge of the forces and torques which are actually exerted.

[1]  M E Friese,et al.  Optical torque controlled by elliptical polarization. , 1998, Optics letters.

[2]  H. Rubinsztein-Dunlop,et al.  erratum: Optical alignment and spinning of laser-trapped microscopic particles , 1998, Nature.

[3]  G. Lawrie,et al.  Synthesis of Optically Complex Core–Shell Colloidal Suspensions: Pathways to Multiplexed Biological Screening , 2003 .

[4]  Measurement of the total optical angular momentum transfer in optical tweezers. , 2006, Optics express.

[5]  Shoji Maruo,et al.  Three-dimensional microfabrication with two-photon absorbed photopolymerization , 1996, International Commission for Optics.

[6]  Norman R. Heckenberg,et al.  FDFD/T-matrix hybrid method , 2007 .

[7]  H. Rubinsztein-Dunlop,et al.  Optical measurement of microscopic torques , 2003 .

[8]  Optical measurement of torque exerted on an elongated object by a noncircular laser beam , 2004, physics/0403008.

[9]  A. Ulman,et al.  Formation and Structure of Self-Assembled Monolayers. , 1996, Chemical reviews.

[10]  Norman R. Heckenberg,et al.  Optical tweezers computational toolbox , 2007 .

[11]  Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop,et al.  Optical microrheology using rotating laser-trapped particles. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[12]  W. Stöber,et al.  Controlled growth of monodisperse silica spheres in the micron size range , 1968 .

[13]  J. Strickler,et al.  Three-dimensional optical data storage in refractive media by two-photon point excitation. , 1991, Optics letters.

[14]  Norman R. Heckenberg,et al.  Optical Particle Trapping with Higher-order Doughnut Beams Produced Using High Efficiency Computer Generated Holograms , 1995 .

[15]  Pál Ormos,et al.  Complex micromachines produced and driven by light , 2001, CLEO 2002.