Optical Tweezers for Biology

Under Construction

Optical tweezers are used to finely capture and move microorganisms or anything microscopic. For this experiment, the focus was to capture biological specimens, and measure the amount of energy they have. With that it can be determine how much energy is produced in order for them to escape a laser trap.

The first thing that was done was the set up capturing apparatus.

Following up with the apparatus set up is the laser set up

After the fiber optic is set up to be a laser, finish setting up the apparatus

There is a solution known as methyl cellulose. It has the ability to hinder and slow the movement of any microorganism as well as other microscopic mass present. This is the way that we bypassed the problem of the microscopic masses moving pass our field of view. They move extremely quickly and any twitch to focus or lock on to the target would shake it around making it even harder to capture.

The first thing to try to capture are glass beads. The glass beads are good practice as they have a clear path and direction that they are traveling in.

Once you have become good enough at capturing beads, the next step is to catch biological organism.