Optical Forces: From Fundamental to Biological Applications

Abstract

Optical forces, generally arising from changes of field gradients or linear momentum carried by photons, form the basis for optical trapping and manipulation. Advances in optical forces help to reveal the nature of light–matter interactions, giving answers to a wide range of questions and solving problems across various disciplines, and are still yielding new insights in many exciting sciences, particularly in the fields of biological technology, material applications, and quantum sciences. This review focuses on recent advances in optical forces, ranging from fundamentals to applications for biological exploration. First, the basics of different types of optical forces with new light–matter interaction mechanisms and near‐field techniques for optical force generation beyond the diffraction limit with nanometer accuracy are described. Optical forces for biological applications from in vitro to in vivo are then reviewed. Applications from individual manipulation to multiple assembly into functional biophotonic probes and soft‐matter superstructures are discussed. At the end future directions for application of optical forces for biological exploration are provided.

Optical trapping with structured light: a review

“…18,232 Later on, optical tweezers were applied to study a series of single molecule protein, nucleic acid, and enzymes and provide an important and fine tool in the single molecule arsenal. 17,233,234 There are a series of review articles on high-resolution optical tweezers and single molecule biophysics. Although the single beam optical tweezers have great contributions in biology studies, especially single molecule biophysics, 234 the complex manipulation of the biological cells is in high demand.…”

“…17,233,234 There are a series of review articles on high-resolution optical tweezers and single molecule biophysics. Although the single beam optical tweezers have great contributions in biology studies, especially single molecule biophysics, 234 the complex manipulation of the biological cells is in high demand. Here, we only focus on the application of structured light in optical tweezers, which also covers a broad area in biomedical applications of optical tweezers.…”

On‐Chip Optical Detection of Viruses: A Review

“…[ 67 ] More detailed discussion about the advances in optical manipulation of biomolecules can be found in recently published review articles. [ 68,69 ] Metallic nanoparticles such as gold nanosphere [ 70 ] (Figure 3b) and nanorod [ 71 ] (Figure 3c) utilize localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) to detect viruses. LSPR arises from the collective oscillations of free electrons in nanoparticles with size comparable to the exciting wavelength.…”

Optothermophoretic flipping method for biomolecule interaction enhancement in biosensing

“…Two kinds of optothermal induced thermodynamic phenomena, convective flow and thermophoresis, were excited for biomolecular enrichment and sensing. The two phenomena have greatly facilitated optical force induced tweezers 54 because of their abilities of long-range manipulation and facile energy-efficient trapping of small particles in recent years. [55][56][57] Working principle The interaction between antibody and antigen is a complex and dynamic phenomenon based on noncovalent forces.…”