title: Dynamic operation of optical fibres beyond the single-mode regime facilitates the orientation of biological cells.
abstract: The classical purpose of optical fibres is delivery of either optical power, as for welding, or temporal information, as for telecommunication. Maximum performance in both cases is provided by the use of single-mode optical fibres. However, transmitting spatial information, which necessitates higher-order modes, is difficult because their dispersion relation leads to dephasing and a deterioration of the intensity distribution with propagation distance. Here we consciously exploit the fundamental cause of the beam deterioration-the dispersion relation of the underlying vectorial electromagnetic modes-by their selective excitation using adaptive optics. This allows us to produce output beams of high modal purity, which are well defined in three dimensions. The output beam distribution is even robust against significant bending of the fibre. The utility of this approach is exemplified by the controlled rotational manipulation of live cells in a dual-beam fibre-optical trap integrated into a modular lab-on-chip system.
authors.affiliation: 1] Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK [2] Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden 01307, Germany.
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kreysing
authors.affiliation: 1] Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK [2] Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen 2100, Denmark.
authors.forename: Dino
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.affiliation: 1] Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK [2] Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, 91058 Erlangen, Germany [3] Department of Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91052 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Schmidberger
authors.affiliation: 1] Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK [2] Biotechnology Center, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Otto
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Center, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Mirjam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schürmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics and Optics, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Estela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martín-Badosa
authors.affiliation: 1] Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK [2] Department of Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91052 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Graeme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Whyte
authors.affiliation: 1] Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK [2] Biotechnology Center, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guck
mesh_terms: D016764:Cell Polarity; D004912:Erythrocytes; D006801:Humans; D056656:Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; D055100:Optical Fibers; D052898:Optical Tweezers; D055095:Optics and Photonics