Open AccessFemtosecond optical tweezers for in-situ control of two-photon fluorescence
Author(s) -
B. Agate,
C.T.A. Brown,
W. Sibbett,
Kishan Dholakia
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/opex.12.003011
Subject(s) - femtosecond , optical tweezers , optics , materials science , laser , two photon excitation microscopy , optoelectronics , fluorescence , physics
We perform a comparison of optical tweezing using continuous wave (cw) and femtosecond lasers. Measurement of the relative Q-values in the femtosecond and cw regimes shows that femtosecond optical tweezers are just as effective as cw optical tweezers. We also demonstrate simultaneous optical tweezing and in-situ control of two-photon fluorescence (at 400nm) from dye-doped polymer microspheres. By switching the 800 nm tweezing laser source between femtosecond and cw regimes, we turned the fluorescent signal from the tweezed particle on and off while maintaining an equivalent tweezing action. Femtosecond lasers can thus be used for optical tweezing and simultaneously utilized to induce nonlinear multi-photon processes such as two-photon excitation or even photoporation.