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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 84 » Issue 23
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5451–5454 (2000)

Optical Deformability of Soft Biological Dielectrics

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J. Guck1, R. Ananthakrishnan1, T. J. Moon3, C. C. Cunningham4, and J. Käs1,2
1Center for Nonlinear Dynamics, Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712
2Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712
3Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712
4Physicians Reliance Network, Dallas, Texas 75246

Received 21 October 1999; published in the issue dated 5 June 2000

Two counterpropagating laser beams were used to significantly stretch soft dielectrics such as cells. The deforming forces act on the surface between the object and the surrounding medium and are considerably higher than the trapping forces on the object. Radiation damage is avoided since a double-beam trap does not require focusing for stable trapping. Ray optics was used to describe the stress profile on the surface of the trapped object. Measuring the total forces and deformations of well-defined elastic objects validated this approach.

© 2000 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.5451
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.5451
PACS:
87.80.Cc, 87.15.La, 87.16.Ka
 
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