Open Access
2D optical manipulation and assembly of shape-complementary planar microstructures
Author(s) -
Peter John Rodrigo,
Lóránd Kelemen,
Carlo Alonzo,
Ivan R. Perch-Nielsen,
Jeppe Seidelin Dam,
Pál Ormos,
Jesper Glückstad
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.15.009009
Subject(s) - microscale chemistry , planar , flexibility (engineering) , optics , materials science , fluidics , optical tweezers , optofluidics , computer science , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , microfluidics , physics , computer graphics (images) , engineering , statistics , mathematics , mathematics education , aerospace engineering
Optical trapping and manipulation offer great flexibility as a non-contact microassembly tool. Its application to the assembly of microscale building blocks may open new doors for micromachine technology. In this work, we demonstrate all-optical assembly of microscopic puzzle pieces in a fluidic environment using programmable arrays of trapping beams. Identical shape-complimentary pieces are optically fabricated with submicron resolution using two-photon polymerization (2PP) technique. These are efficiently assembled into space-filling tessellations by a multiple-beam optical micromanipulation system. The flexibility of the system allows us to demonstrate both user-interactive and computer-automated modes of serial and parallel assembly of microscale objects with high spatial and angular positioning precision.