Phys.org July 8, 2024 Optical tweezers enable noncontact trapping of microscale objects using light. However, it is not known how tightly it is possible to three-dimensionally (3D) trap microparticles with a given photon budget. Reaching the limit would enable maximally stiff particle trapping for precision measurements on the nanoscale and photon-efficient tweezing of light-sensitive objects. An international team of researchers (UK, Austria) customized the shape of light fields to suit specific particles, with the aim of optimizing trapping stiffness in 3D. They showed, theoretically, that the confinement volume of microspheres held in sculpted optical traps could be reduced by one […]
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‘Invisible tweezers’ use robotics and acoustic energy to achieve what human hands cannot
Science Daily May 24, 2024 Existing robotic platforms have difficulty achieving contactless, high-resolution, 4-degrees-of-freedom (4-DOF) manipulation of small objects, and noninvasive maneuvering of objects in regions shielded by tissue and bone barriers. A team of researchers in the US (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, University of North Carolina, University of Michigan) has developed programmable, chirality-tunable acoustic vortex tweezers that could tune acoustic vortex chirality, transmit through biological barriers, trap single micro- to millimeter-sized objects, and control object rotation. Assisted by programmable robots, the acoustic systems further enabled contactless, high-resolution translation of single objects. They demonstrated the systems by tuning […]