Optical Trapping: Techniques and Applications

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 7440

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Biophotonics Group, Irish Photonic Integration Centre (IPIC), Tyndall National Institute, Lee Maltings, Dyke Parade, T12 R5CP Cork, Ireland
Interests: biophotonics; vibrational spectroscopy; optical trapping; waveguides; microfluidics; plasmonics; nonlinear imaging

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Guest Editor
Department of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10003, USA
Interests: optical system designing; 3D biomedical imaging modalities; 3D optical manipulation and display systems; optical metrology techniques

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Guest Editor
Centre for Quantum Technology, NUS, Singapore 117543, Singapore
Interests: quantum technology; precision measurement ans laser spectroscopy using different ions in the trap; quantum simulation with trap ions in miniaturized surface trap

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since its first demonstration in the early 1970s, optical trapping has been widely used to uncover the mechanisms of molecular arrangements and cellular biology. Typically, optical forces are on the order of piconewtons, which allows one to hold and manipulate microscopic particles in a precise and contact-free way, which is the key to its widespread application in various fields, including material sciences and biomedicine. The integration of optical trapping with microfluidics provides a robust platform for cell-sorting, sensing, and diagnosis. Furthermore, the self-trapping of light in colloidal suspensions—attributed to optical force-induced nonlinearities—has shown great potential in enhancing propagation through otherwise highly scattering media. This Special Issue, titled “Optical Trapping: Techniques and Applications”, is devoted to optical forces and their wide range of applications. The main objective is to invite original articles on the latest innovative ideas, techniques, and results, as well as review articles summarizing and describing recent work on the development and application of optical forces. Focus areas include but are not limited to the development and use of optical manipulation tools for the following:

  • biophotonics
  • quantum photonics
  • waveguide formation
  • microfluidics
  • plasmonics, metasurfaces, and structured materials

Dr. Rekha Gautam
Dr. Behnam Tayebi
Dr. Sapam Ranjita Chanu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • optical tweezers
  • vortex beams
  • waveguides
  • biosensing
  • nanophotonics

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 4199 KiB  
Article
Characterization of Aggregating Agents towards Sensitive Optical Detection of Tryptophan Using Lab-on-a-Chip
by Rekha Gautam, Deepika Chaturvedi, Sanchita Sil, Nikki Kuhar, Saumya Singh and Siva Umapathy
Photonics 2022, 9(9), 648; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics9090648 - 9 Sep 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2319
Abstract
The analysis of body fluids is desirable to minimize the invasiveness of diagnostic tests and non-destructive forensic investigations. In this study, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is employed for sensitive and reproducible detection of biomolecule focusing on ‘hot spots’ generation and automated flow system. [...] Read more.
The analysis of body fluids is desirable to minimize the invasiveness of diagnostic tests and non-destructive forensic investigations. In this study, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is employed for sensitive and reproducible detection of biomolecule focusing on ‘hot spots’ generation and automated flow system. Here, we have demonstrated how the plasmon frequency of nanoparticles can be tuned using different aggregating agents for optimal SERS signals. We have compared the effect of different aggregating agents on silver colloids and the resulting enhancement in Raman signals for Tryptophan which is an important amino acid present as an integral component of various body fluids including blood, saliva, tears, and cerebrospinal fluid. The automated segmented flow system, Lab-on-a-chip (LOC), is employed to trap the analyte in droplets while obtaining reproducible SERS spectra of Tryptophan at μM concentration. Further for a thorough interpretation of enhanced vibrational modes of Tryptophan, a theoretical approach has been applied. By combining both experimental and computational approaches we have identified the most preferable site of Tryptophan for interaction with metal nanoparticles and accurately assigned the enhanced Raman bands. The present study demonstrates that the union of SERS and microfluidics has the potential for spectral fingerprinting of biomolecules present in body fluids with high sensitivity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Trapping: Techniques and Applications)
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12 pages, 2227 KiB  
Article
Experimental Study of Transverse Trapping Forces of an Optothermal Trap Close to an Absorbing Reflective Film
by Hao-Dong Wang, Wen Bai, Bu Zhang, Bo-Wei Li, Feng Ji and Min-Cheng Zhong
Photonics 2022, 9(7), 473; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics9070473 - 6 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1872
Abstract
The optothermal manipulation of micro-objects is significant for understanding and exploring the unknown in the microscale word, which has found many applications in colloidal science and life science. In this work, we study the transverse forces of an optothermal trap in front of [...] Read more.
The optothermal manipulation of micro-objects is significant for understanding and exploring the unknown in the microscale word, which has found many applications in colloidal science and life science. In this work, we study the transverse forces of an optothermal trap in front of a gold film, which is an absorbing reflective surface for the incident laser beam. It is demonstrated that optothermal forces can be divided into two parts: optical force of a standing-wave trap, and thermal force of a thermal trap. The optical force of the standing-wave trap can be obtained by measuring the optical trapping force close to a non-absorbing film with same reflectance. The thermal force can be obtained by subtracting the optical force of the standing-wave trap from the total trapping force of the optothermal trap close to the gold film. The results show that both optical and thermal trapping forces increase with laser power increasing. The optical trapping force is larger than the thermal trapping force, which is composed of convective drag force and thermophoretic force. Further experiment is run to study the composition of thermal force. The result shows that the convective flow is generated later than the thermophoretic flow. The results proposed here are useful for enabling users to optimize optothermal manipulation method for future applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Trapping: Techniques and Applications)
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13 pages, 2813 KiB  
Article
An Optical Tweezers-Based Single-Cell Manipulation and Detection Platform for Probing Real-Time Cancer Cell Chemotaxis and Response to Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor PD153035
by Pei-Wen Peng, Jen-Chang Yang, Mamadi M.S Colley and Tzu-Sen Yang
Photonics 2021, 8(12), 533; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8120533 - 26 Nov 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1909
Abstract
We presented an approach to address cancer cell chemotaxis and response to tyrosine kinase inhibitor PD153035 at the single-cell level. We applied an optical tweezer system together with the platform at the single-cell level to manipulate an epidermal growth factor (EGF)-coated bead positioned [...] Read more.
We presented an approach to address cancer cell chemotaxis and response to tyrosine kinase inhibitor PD153035 at the single-cell level. We applied an optical tweezer system together with the platform at the single-cell level to manipulate an epidermal growth factor (EGF)-coated bead positioned close to the filopodia to locally stimulate HT29 cells, the human colon cancer cell line overexpressing the EGF receptor (EGFR). To address cancer cell chemotaxis, a single-cell movement model was also proposed to quantify the propagation speed at the leading and trailing edges of the cell along the chemosensing axis. This study focused on three perspectives: probing the chemosensing process mediated by EGF/EGFR signaling, investigating the mode of locomotion during the EGF-coated bead stimulation, and quantifying the effect of PD153035 on the EGF–EGFR transport pathway. The results showed that the filopodial actin filament is a sensory system for EGF detection. In addition, HT29 cells may use the filopodial actin filament to distinguish the presence or absence of the chemoattractant EGF. Furthermore, we demonstrated the high selectivity of PD153035 for EGFR and the reversibility of binding to EGFR. We anticipate that the proposed single-cell method could be applied to construct a rapid screening method for the detection and therapeutic evaluation of many types of cancer during chemotaxis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Trapping: Techniques and Applications)
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