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Optical Trapping of Nanoparticles
Published on: January 15, 2013
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Resonator nanophotonic standing-wave array trap for single-molecule manipulation and measurement
Fan Ye1,2, James T Inman1,2, Yifeng Hong3
1Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
Nature Communications
|January 11, 2022
Summary
Researchers developed a new nanophotonic tweezers system that enhances trapping forces for single-molecule experiments. This breakthrough enables precise manipulation and measurement of biological molecules on-chip with unprecedented resolution.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Nanotechnology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Nanophotonic tweezers offer potential for on-chip manipulation of single biological molecules.
- A key limitation is insufficient trapping force generation for many applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a nanophotonic trap with enhanced force generation for single-molecule experiments.
- To demonstrate the platform's capability for high-resolution molecular measurements.
Main Methods:
- Integration of a critically-coupled resonator design into a nanophotonic standing-wave array trap (nSWAT).
- Implementation of a novel trap reset scheme.
- Performing single-molecule experiments such as DNA stretching and unzipping.
Main Results:
- Achieved significant force enhancement, reaching trapping forces of approximately 20 pN.
- Demonstrated base-pair resolution in measurements.
- Enabled parallel measurements on multiple single molecules simultaneously.
Conclusions:
- The resonator-nSWAT platform meets the force and resolution benchmarks of table-top optical trapping instruments.
- This work presents the first nanophotonic platform capable of performing these demanding single-molecule experiments.
