Trapping and mixing of particles in water using a microbubble attached to an NSOM fiber probe

Low power cw laser radiation at lambda=1.32microm was coupled into a chemically etched,metalized Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM) fiber probe to generate a stable microbubble in water as well as in other fluids.The microbubble,which was attached to the end face of the fiber probe,was used to trap, manipulate and mix micron sized glass,latex and fluorescent particles as well as biological material.