corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 92 » Issue 19
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 198104 (2004) [4 pages]

Optical Microrheology Using Rotating Laser-Trapped Particles

Download: PDF (441 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

Alexis I. Bishop*, Timo A. Nieminen, Norman R. Heckenberg, and Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop
Centre for Biophotonics and Laser Science, Department of Physics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia

Received 29 July 2003; published 14 May 2004

We demonstrate an optical system that can apply and accurately measure the torque exerted by the trapping beam on a rotating birefringent probe particle. This allows the viscosity and surface effects within liquid media to be measured quantitatively on a micron-size scale using a trapped rotating spherical probe particle. We use the system to measure the viscosity inside a prototype cellular structure.

© 2004 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.198104
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.198104
PACS:
87.80.Cc, 83.85.Cg, 83.85.Ei

*Present address: Department of Physics, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Electronic address: A.I.Bishop@hw.ac.uk

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >