Optical tweezers
Pinzas ópticas
- Date
- 1970-1986 · confidence high
- Place
- Holmdel, New Jersey, United States
- Credited to
- Arthur Ashkin (Bell Labs)
- Field
- Communication
What it is
A tightly focused laser beam traps microscopic particles and cells by the gradient force of light and lets them be moved without contact. Ashkin received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Ashkin demonstrated radiation pressure on particles in 1970 and the single-beam trap in 1986 with Chu and others.
What it led to
- measuring forces of molecular motors and DNA
- manipulation of cells and bacteria
- trapping of cold atoms