Basic laser tweezers.
The basic information has been provided here for designing and building a laser tweezers system for force measurements. If force measurements are not required, then the considerations about the analysis system, a fine piezo stage, and stability are less important. For the initial alignment and characterization of the system, red blood cells provide an easily trapped sample. For a difficult test sample, the smaller latex beads (0.15-0.3 micron in diameter) are stable and easy to obtain. Anyone setting up laser tweezers is encouraged to see a working tweezers system and to compare samples with that system. Everyone has a different background, and there may be aspects critical for you that have not been discussed here. More sophisticated systems are described later in this book.
Sterba
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RE
Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
Sheetz
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MP
D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007834:Lasers; D008846:Micromanipulation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D014741:Video Recording / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods