Biomaterial Database

Multiple traps created with an inclined dual-fiber system. 2009

Yuxiang Liu, and Miao Yu

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.

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.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008853	Microscopy	The use of instrumentation and techniques for visualizing material and details that cannot be seen by the unaided eye. It is usually done by enlarging images, transmitted by light or electron beams, with optical or magnetic lenses that magnify the entire image field. With scanning microscopy, images are generated by collecting output from the specimen in a point-by-point fashion, on a magnified scale, as it is scanned by a narrow beam of light or electrons, a laser, a conductive probe, or a topographical probe.	Compound Microscopy,Hand-Held Microscopy,Light Microscopy,Optical Microscopy,Simple Microscopy,Hand Held Microscopy,Microscopy, Compound,Microscopy, Hand-Held,Microscopy, Light,Microscopy, Optical,Microscopy, Simple
D010316	Particle Size	Relating to the size of solids.	Particle Sizes,Size, Particle,Sizes, Particle
D003102	Colloids	Two-phase systems in which one is uniformly dispersed in another as particles small enough so they cannot be filtered or will not settle out. The dispersing or continuous phase or medium envelops the particles of the discontinuous phase. All three states of matter can form colloids among each other.	Hydrocolloids,Colloid,Hydrocolloid
D004867	Equipment Design	Methods and patterns of fabricating machines and related hardware.	Design, Equipment,Device Design,Medical Device Design,Design, Medical Device,Designs, Medical Device,Device Design, Medical,Device Designs, Medical,Medical Device Designs,Design, Device,Designs, Device,Designs, Equipment,Device Designs,Equipment Designs
D005336	Fiber Optic Technology	The technology of transmitting light over long distances through strands of glass or other transparent material.	Fiber Optic Technologies,Optic Technologies, Fiber,Optic Technology, Fiber,Technologies, Fiber Optic,Technology, Fiber Optic
D001703	Biophysics	The study of PHYSICAL PHENOMENA and PHYSICAL PROCESSES as applied to living things.	Mechanobiology
D017076	Computer-Aided Design	The use of computers for designing and/or manufacturing of anything, including drugs, surgical procedures, orthotics, and prosthetics.	CAD-CAM,Computer-Aided Manufacturing,Computer-Assisted Design,Computer-Assisted Manufacturing,Computer Aided Design,Computer Aided Manufacturing,Computer Assisted Design,Computer Assisted Manufacturing,Computer-Aided Designs,Computer-Assisted Designs,Design, Computer-Aided,Design, Computer-Assisted,Designs, Computer-Aided,Designs, Computer-Assisted,Manufacturing, Computer-Aided,Manufacturing, Computer-Assisted
D052898	Optical Tweezers	A technique that uses LASERS to trap, image, and manipulate small objects (biomolecules, supramolecular assembles, DENDRIMERS) in three dimensional space. (From Glossary of Biotechnology and Nanobiotechnology Terms, 4th ed.)	Laser Tweezers,Optical Trap,Optical Trapping,Laser Tweezer,Optical Traps,Optical Tweezer,Trap, Optical,Trapping, Optical,Traps, Optical,Tweezer, Laser,Tweezer, Optical,Tweezers, Laser,Tweezers, Optical
D055095	Optics and Photonics	A specialized field of physics and engineering involved in studying the behavior and properties of light and the technology of analyzing, generating, transmitting, and manipulating ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION in the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet range.	Photonics,Photonics and Optics