Paper
26 August 2005 Growth of crystals in optical tweezers
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
We report here on the use of optical tweezers in the growth and manipulation of protein and inorganic crystals. Sodium chloride and hen egg-white lysozyme crystals were grown in a batch process, and then seeds from the solution were introduced into the optical tweezers. The regular and controllable shape and the known optical birefringence in these structures allowed a detailed study of the orientation effects in the beam due to both polarization and gradient forces. Additionally, we determined that the laser tweezers could be used to suspend a crystal for three-dimensional growth under varying conditions. Studies included increasing the protein concentration, thermal cycling, and a diffusion-induced increase in precipitant concentration. Preliminary studies on the use of the tweezers to create a localized seed for growth from polyethylene oxide solutions are also reported.
© (2005) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Ursula Gibson, Wolfgang Singer, Timo Nieminen, Norman Heckenberg, and Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop "Growth of crystals in optical tweezers", Proc. SPIE 5930, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation II, 593014 (26 August 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.616739
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KEYWORDS
Crystals

Optical tweezers

Laser crystals

Proteins

Particles

Clouds

Oxides

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