Laser manipulation in liquid crystals: an approach to microfluidics and micromachines

• Published in: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences Vol. 364; no. 1847; pp. 2789 - 2805
• Main Authors: Gleeson, Helen F, Wood, Tiffany A, Dickinson, Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London The Royal Society 15.10.2006
• Subjects: Angular momentum; Laser beams; Lasers; Liquid Crystals; Liquids; Microrheology; Optical reflection; Optical Trapping; Polarized light; Viscosity; Wave reflection; Wavelengths

Laser trapping of particles in three dimensions can occur as a result of the refraction of strongly focused light through micrometre-sized particles. The use of this effect to produce laser tweezers is extremely common in fields such as biology, but it is only relatively recently that the technique...