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Rotation of birefringent particles in optical tweezers with spherical aberration

Authors :
Min-Cheng Zhong
Jinhua Zhou
Yinmei Li
Yu-Xuan Ren
Ziqiang Wang
Source :
Applied Optics. 48:4397
Publication Year :
2009
Publisher :
The Optical Society, 2009.

Abstract

Birefringent particles rotate when trapped in elliptically polarized light. When an infinity corrected oil-immersion objective is used for trapping, rotation of birefringent particles in optical tweezers based on an infinity optical microscope is affected by the spherical aberration at the glass-water interface. The maximum rotation rate of birefringent particles occurs close to the coverslip, and the rotation rate decreases dramatically as the trapped depth increases. We experimentally demonstrate that spherical aberration can be compensated by using a finite-distance-corrected objective to trap and rotate the birefringent particles. It is found that the trapped depth corresponding to the maximum rotation rate is 50 microm, and the rotation rates at deep trapped depths are improved.

Details

ISSN :
15394522 and 00036935
Volume :
48
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Applied Optics
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....6e349587945d97f02256b19e97e9aaae