
Optical Tweezers - wrkronmiller
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_tweezers
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eigenspace
Optical tweezers are a really cool technique, and actually surprisingly easy
to make for something that was only discovered in the 70s.

In my 3rd year undergraduate optics lab we were given a laser, a camera, and a
bunch of mirrors and lenses and told to make an optical tweezer and take
measurements on the trapping potential for a bunch of different sized
polystyrene beads. It was challenging, but ultimately quite do-able for a
couple of undergrads with minimal advice / assistance from the lab
coordinators.

If I ever had any doubt about whether or not I wanted to be an experimental
physicist though, that lab really did confirm to me that I'd hate being an
experimentalist. Give me a whiteboard any day.

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rrock
For those interested, here is Arthur Ashkin giving what would have been his
2018 Nobel Lecture in Aspen, Colorado, in early 2019. He was unable to travel
to Stockholm at the time. The talk is quite accessible if you want to
understand how tweezers work.

[https://youtu.be/vb58pd2ycKQ](https://youtu.be/vb58pd2ycKQ)

~~~
rkagerer
_1 Newton is the weight of an apple_

I can't believe I went through years of university schooling for an
engineering degree and they never pointed that out!

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dang
If curious see also

2018
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18120496](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18120496)

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crispyambulance
My favorite demo of optical tweezers in action is the tetris video:
[https://youtu.be/paSWFnfv1n4](https://youtu.be/paSWFnfv1n4)

How's that for a lab trick!

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happyjack
Wow, never thought I'd see optical tweezers on HN. Flashbacks of rheology /
microrheology are crossing my mind ...

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gonational
I wonder if the science at work here could lead to the creation of a tractor
beam capable of moving larger objects.

