Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 075305 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Optics |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Jul 2013 |
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Keywords
- optical trapping
- adaptive optics
- trap stiffness
- optical tweezers
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Adaptive optics in an optical trapping system for enhanced lateral trap stiffness at depth. / Müllenbroich, Caroline; McAlinden, Niall; Wright, Amanda.
In: Journal of Optics, Vol. 15, No. 7, 075305, 02.07.2013.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Adaptive optics in an optical trapping system for enhanced lateral trap stiffness at depth
AU - Müllenbroich, Caroline
AU - McAlinden, Niall
AU - Wright, Amanda
PY - 2013/7/2
Y1 - 2013/7/2
N2 - In optical trapping systems the trap stiffness, or spring constant, deteriorates dramatically with trap depth due to optical aberrations and system misalignment. This can severely hamper studies that employ optical tweezers to make accurate quantitative measurements. Here, a deformable membrane mirror is used, in conjunction with a random search algorithm, to correct for these aberrations by optimizing on a merit factor that is directly proportional to the trap stiffness. Previous studies have sought to address this issue but none have used a merit factor that is directly proportional to the trap stiffness. We demonstrate that the lateral trap stiffness, measured with and without aberration correction at increasing depths, improves throughout the trapping range of a conventional trap and allows us to extend the maximum depth at which we can trap from 136 to 166 μm. At a depth of 131 μm, trap stiffness improved by factors of 4.37 and 3.31 for the x- and y-axes respectively. The aberration correction resulted in deformable membrane mirror shapes where a single shape could be applied throughout a wide range of trap depths, showing significant improvement, and had the added benefit of making the lateral trapping forces more uniform in x and y.
AB - In optical trapping systems the trap stiffness, or spring constant, deteriorates dramatically with trap depth due to optical aberrations and system misalignment. This can severely hamper studies that employ optical tweezers to make accurate quantitative measurements. Here, a deformable membrane mirror is used, in conjunction with a random search algorithm, to correct for these aberrations by optimizing on a merit factor that is directly proportional to the trap stiffness. Previous studies have sought to address this issue but none have used a merit factor that is directly proportional to the trap stiffness. We demonstrate that the lateral trap stiffness, measured with and without aberration correction at increasing depths, improves throughout the trapping range of a conventional trap and allows us to extend the maximum depth at which we can trap from 136 to 166 μm. At a depth of 131 μm, trap stiffness improved by factors of 4.37 and 3.31 for the x- and y-axes respectively. The aberration correction resulted in deformable membrane mirror shapes where a single shape could be applied throughout a wide range of trap depths, showing significant improvement, and had the added benefit of making the lateral trapping forces more uniform in x and y.
KW - optical trapping
KW - adaptive optics
KW - trap stiffness
KW - optical tweezers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84880068973&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://iopscience.iop.org/2040-8986/
U2 - 10.1088/2040-8978/15/7/075305
DO - 10.1088/2040-8978/15/7/075305
M3 - Article
VL - 15
JO - Journal of Optics
JF - Journal of Optics
SN - 0972-8821
IS - 7
M1 - 075305
ER -