Orientation of biological cells using plane-polarized Gaussian beam optical tweezers
- 1 January 2003
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Modern Optics
- Vol. 50 (10) , 1581-1590
- https://doi.org/10.1080/0950034031000069497
Abstract
Optical tweezers are widely used for the manipulation of cells and their internal structures. However, the degree of manipulation possible is limited by poor control over the orientation of the trapped cells. We show that it is possible to controllably align or rotate disc-shaped cells—chloroplasts of Spinacia oleracea—in a plane-polarized Gaussian beam trap, using optical torques resulting predominantly from circular polarization induced in the transmitted beam by the non-spherical shape of the cells.Keywords
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