Optical Tweezers Principles and Applications

Combining state-of-the-art research with a strong pedagogic approach, this text provides a detailed and complete guide to the theory, practice and applications of optical tweezers. In-depth derivation of the theory of optical trapping and numerical modelling of optical forces are supported by a complete step-by-step design and construction guide for building optical tweezers, with detailed tutorials on collecting and analysing data. Also included are comprehensive reviews of optical tweezers research in fields ranging from cell biology to quantum physics. Featuring numerous exercises and problems throughout, this is an ideal self-contained learning package for advanced lecture and laboratory courses, and an invaluable guide to practitioners wanting to enter the field of optical manipulation. The text is supplemented by www.opticaltweezers.org, a forum for discussion and a source of additional material including free-to-download, customisable research-grade software (OTS) for calculation of optical forces, digital video microscopy, optical tweezers calibration and holographic optical tweezers.

1. Introduction; Part I. Theory: 2. Ray optics; 3. Dipole approximation; 4. Optical beams and focusing; 5. Electromagnetic theory; 6. Computational methods; 7. Brownian motion; Part II. Practice: 8. Building an optical tweezers; 9. Data acquisition and optical tweezers calibration; 10. Photonic force microscope; 11. Wavefront engineering and holographic optical tweezers; 12. Advanced techniques; Part III. Applications: 13. Single molecule biophysics; 14. Cell biology; 15. Spectroscopy; 16. Optofluidics and lab on a chip; 17. Colloid science; 18. Microchemistry; 19. Aerosol science; 20. Statistical physics; 21. Nanothermodynamics; 22. Plasmonics; 23. Nanostructures; 24. Laser cooling and trapping of atoms; 25. Towards the quantum regime at the mesoscale; Index.

Philip Jones is Reader in Physics at University College London where he leads the Optical Tweezers research group.
Onofrio Maragò is Researcher at the Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici (CNR-IPCF) in Messina, Italy, where he leads the Optical Trapping research group.
Giovanni Volpe is Assistant Professor at Bilkent University where he is head of the Soft Matter Lab.