Optical Tweezers

Lab Works Optics

Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena

Group 15:
Chang Liu (138583)
Xiaohan Wang (138941)
Marc Reig (138877)

February 8, 2013
CONTENTS Optical Tweezers

Contents
1 Introduction 2

2 Theory 2
2.1 Experimental setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.1 Laser diode light source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.2 LED light source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3 Results and discussion 3

3.1 Preliminary computations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2 Calibration of the laser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4 Conclusions 6

5 References 6

A Error calculation 6

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 Optical Tweezers

1 Introduction
2 Theory
N A = n1 sin (1)
For a collimated beam with diameter D and wavelength 0 , an ideal lens with focal length f will
focus it in such a way that the radius wtrap of the resulting focal spot is:
   r
1.220 f 1.220 NA 1.220  n1 2
wtrap = tan arcsin = 1 (2)
2D n1 n1 n1 NA

2.1 Experimental setup

In our experimental setup the light source is a cw-laser diode, whose power P as a function of the
intensity I can be described by:

P (I) = [I Ithre ] (I + ) (3)

Being [I Ithre ] the Heaviside Step function. Then, we expect a linear behaviour of the power
P after reaching the intensity threshold Ithre .

Knowing that P (Ithre ) = 0, from equation 3 we can find the value of Ithre as a function of the
coefficients and :

Ithre = (4)

The wavelength of the laser is around 980 nm, that is, in the invisible infrared region. Using
a transparent material (the polystyrene spheres) in this region we can minimize the absorption of
light at interfaces, since we always have to take into account transmission, reflection and absorption.
Therefore, it leads us to a better perfomance of our experimental setup.

The effective transmission coefficient Tef f can be calculated from the output powers of the laser
diode and the system, and with the theoretical transmission coefficient given by the manufacturer.
The following formula gives us the relation:
Poutput
Tef f = Tobj (5)
Plaser
A schematic of the experimental setup is shown in figure 1. The cw-laser diode mentioned above
is represented in the figure by numbers [1] and [2] (with a power up to 300 mW ). In order to explain
it we will follow two paths, from [1] to [7] (Laser diode light source) and from [9] to [5] (LED
light source).

2.1.1 Laser diode light source

The beam emitted by the laser diode, [1] and [2], is collimated and afterwards expanded [3] by
making use of a telescope (with focal lenses f1 = 50 mm and f2 = 150 mm).

Then, some wavelengths of this expanded and collimated beam are reflected in a dichroic mirror
[4] (invisible infrared light, whereas light in visible spectrum is transmitted) and then the invisible
infrared light is guided by a beam steering mirror to the objective lens [6], where we know that the
theoretical transmission coefficient Tobj = 0, 5. We also added an oil drop because it has a bigger
refractive index than air and it gives us stronger focusing.

Experimentally, the first task was to align the laser beam until it reaches the objective lens,
optimizing the output by adjusting the telescope arrangement and all beam steering mirrors.

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 Optical Tweezers

Figure 1: Experimental setup of optical tweezers.

Device [7] is the device where we put our sample on, the sample stage, and thanks manual
actuators we can adjust x and y-components for moving the sample in one plane and also the
z-component to vary the height. These manipulation allows us to move our sample (with polystyrene
spheres) along the focus point of the laser beam.

2.1.2 LED light source

The LED light source [9] introduces visible light in our setup which is used to record real time
images, that we will study later with the software, with the CCD imaging detector [5].

This beam passes through the dichroic mirror [8] and then shines the sample [6]. After this, it
gets reflected in a beam steering mirror and passes through another dichroic mirror [4] until reaching
the CCD imaging detector [5].

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Preliminary computations
Making use of equations 1 and 2 we can compute the focusing angle and the radius of the focal
spot wtrap . The theoretical values that we will use are the following for the refractive index n1 , the
numerical aperture N A and the wavelength 0 :

n1 () N A () (nm)
1,45 1,25 980

Table 1: Theoretical values for n1 , N A and 0 .

Then, using mentioned equations 1 and 2 and the theoretical values from table 1 we find:

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3.2 Calibration of the laser Optical Tweezers

wtrap (nm) ( )
484,74 59,55

Table 2: Calculated values for wtrap and .

3.2 Calibration of the laser

The goal of this section is to find the effective laser power Pef f depending on the diode cur-
rent. To do so, we first measured the output power of the laser diode Plaser at the beginning
(placing the detector just in front of it) and the whole system Poutput (placing now the power-
meter before the objective lens) by increasing the intensity by steps of 20 mA from 0 mW to 240 mW .

For a laser diode, at this regime we expect a lineal behaviour of the power as a function of the
intensity. Higher intensities than 240 mW are not necessary for our purpose in this experiment and,
for example, if we had placed the detector in the focal point of the objective lens we could have
damaged it due to its high concentrated intensity at the focal point.

Next figure shows our data and their lineal regressions:

Figure 2: Powers Plaser and Poutput as a function of the intensity I.

According to expression 3 we can find the values of the coefficients and making a linear
regression once we reach the intensity threshold Ithre in last figure for both sets of data (laser diode
and system output power, Plaser and Poutput respectively). The obtained results are1 :
In order to obtain the effective power Pef f of the system we must study first the transmission
coefficient. Taking as a theoretical transmission coefficient Tobj the one that the manufacturer gives
us, we can compute from the data shown in figure 2 an effective transmission coefficient Tef f using
equation 5.

1 We have used Gnuplot because it allows us to compute the uncertainties easy. Introducing the xy-errorbars for

each data point it makes all statistical analysis and gives us these values.

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3.2 Calibration of the laser Optical Tweezers

(mW/A) (mW )
Plaser 641,68 2,17 -42,39 0,37
Poutput 568,95 1,01 -37,69 0,17

Table 3: Values of coefficients and in the linear regressions for Plaser and Poutput .

Thinking about errors, here we have to consider the experimental error that we have in our data,
and afterwards we can compute Tef f for each couple of data points Plaser (Ii ) and Poutput (Ii ). The
error in this computation will be given by the error propagation law (see definition 8 in Appendix)
and, therefore, we will use equation 9 in this case. Final main value and uncertainty will be found
with statistical analysis (equations 6 and 7 also in Appendix), thus obtaining:

Tobj () Tef f ()
50 % (44,25 0,18) %

Table 4: Values of transmission coefficients Tobj and Tef f .

We can compute the effective laser power Pef f multiplying the final system output power Poutput
by the transmission coefficient Tobj . Thereby, the plot is now Pef f (I) = Tobj Poutput (I) = 21 Poutput (I):

Figure 3: Effective power Pef f of the system as a function of the intensity I.

Making again a linear regression we find the values for coefficients and , given in next table. As
we expected, these values are exactly the half of what we presented for Poutput in 3 since Tobj = 0, 5:

(mW/A) (mW )
Pef f 284,47 0,51 -18,84 0,09

Table 5: Values of coefficients and in the linear regression for Pef f .

Last but not least, we can compute the intensity threshold Ithre from our experimental data, i.e.,
using the linear regression with coefficients presented in table 6. Using equation 4 (and its uncertainty
10) we can find the value of Ithre :

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 Optical Tweezers

Ithre (mA)
66,24 0,32

Table 6: Value of Ithre from the effective power experimental data.

4 Conclusions
The calibrating and understanding of the whole experimental has been done. A description of all
procedures is given in both Theory (e.g., figure 1) and Results and discussion sections.

In the latter section we have presented preliminary computations (table 2) which give us
information about the order of magnitude which we have worked with.

Besides, the power output of the laser diode and the whole experimental system has been
measured and shown in figure 2, allowing us to calculate the effective laser power by making use of
equation 5 and obtaining the result found in table 4, where we can compare it with the theoretical
value and conclude that we get a close result. We have also plotted the effective power output (figure
3).

Both figures 2 and 3 of the power P as a function of the intensity I behave with the expected
behaviour, that is, a lineal function. Linear regressions were computed (results in tables 3 and 6)
since we need these coefficients and in next computations.

5 References

[1] Abbe School of Photonics - Lab Works Optics, Optical Tweezers, Friedrich-Schiller-
Universitat Jena, version January, 2013.
[2] Smith, S.P., Bhalotra, S.R., Brody, A.L., Brown, B.L., Boyda, E.K., Prentiss, M., Inexpensive
optical tweezers for undergraduate laboratories, American Journal of Physics (67, 26),
1999.

[3] Bahaa E. A. Saleh, Malvin Carl Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics, John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., 1991.
[4] Hecht E., Zajac, Optics, Addison Wesley, 4th edition, 2003.

A Error calculation
We compute the error estimation using:
k
P
xi
i=1
x = (6)
k
k
(x xi )2
P
i=1
x2 = (7)
k
And, in the error propagation cases, we have used:
k  2
X f
f2 = x2i (8)
i=1
xi

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 Optical Tweezers

Thus, for the transmission coefficient Tef f given in equation 5 we have the following uncertainty:
!
2 2
P2 output 2
Poutput 2
Tef f = Tobj 2 + 4 Plaser (9)
Plaser Plaser
For the intensity threshold Ithre given in equation 4:
!
2
1 alpha
I2thre = 2 2
beta + (10)
2