Optical Tweezers

The basis for optical tweezers systems has been reported by Ashkin in 1970, who was the first to describe how a small particle can be trapped using a tightly focused laser beam and movement can be controlled in three dimensions. However modern optical tweezers setups are usually quite complex and require a specialist for operation. In recent years commercial systems have been introduced, but they are still difficult to use, require regular maintenance and adjustments and consequently are still far away from being easy-to-use.

The still young company Aresis, Ljubljana (Slovenia) is now about to revolutionize this market. With more than 10 years experience the founders of Aresis introduce the Tweez200si system. Tweez200si does come with a very compact design enabling exceptional stability and accuracy. It incorporates a very stable laser which is directed and controlled by acousto-optic deflectors. This technology can generate 200+ traps. Trap to trap switching rates of up to 100kHz ensure quasi stationary conditions for each trapped particle.

Application areas for optical tweezers technology are rapidly expanding and can cover such different areas like:

• Molecular interactions, e.g. molecules, cells, nanoparticles
• force measurements <100pN
• manipulation of small particles

and can therefore be found in physics, chemistry, biology and materials research.

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Tweez 200si