Pulse laser assisted optical tweezers for biomedical applications

Optical tweezers which enables to trap micron to nanometer sized objects by radiation pressure force is utilized for manipulation of particles under a microscope and for measurement of forces between biomolecules. Weak force of optical tweezers causes some limitations such as particle adhesion or steric barrier like lipid membrane in a cell prevent further movement of objects. For biomedical applications we need to overcome these difficulties. We have developed a technique to exert strong instantaneous force by use of a pulse laser beam and to assist conventional optical tweezers. A pulse laser beam has huge instantaneous laser power of more than 1000 times as strong as a conventional continuous-wave laser beam so that the instantaneous force is strong enough to break chemical bonding and molecular force between objects and obstacles. We derive suitable pulse duration for pulse assist of optical tweezers and demonstrate particle manipulation in difficult situations through an experiment of particle removal from sticky surface of glass substrate.