Reducing photodamage in optical trapping of individual cells in living zebrafish

We propose to reduce the photodamage in optical trapping of living cells by using azimuthally polarized beams (APBs). APBs achieve higher axial trapping efficiency and lower photodamage than linearly polarized Gaussian beams when used for optical trapping of individual red blood cells (RBCs). In particular, we further achieve reducing photodamage in optical trapping of individual RBCs in living zebrafish. Our work is expected to benefit in vivo optical trapping and study of living cells.