Optical tweezers use light for contactless manipulation of microscopic particles. Objects ranging in size from about 10nm to 10um can be trapped close to the focus of a low(ish) power laser beam and manipulated in three dimensions by moving either the sample or the trap position. There is a wide variety of applications—particularly in biology and colloid science—from 'simple' translators to trap arrays and high precision force measurements.
The main emphasis within COSMIC
is on the applications of tweezers in colloid physics and life
sciences, but there is also some instrument development and
characterisation of optical tweezers going on.
The following links give an (incomplete) overview of the tweezers instrumentation available within COSMIC and the various application projects that they are used for: