Study of the Line Optical Tweezers Characteristics Using a Novel Method and Establishing a Model for Cell Sorting

Abstract

Optical tweezers have become a powerful tool in cellular and molecule biology. Line optical tweezers enhanced its function in cell sorting. This study presents the line trap model, based on the ray-optics model, and demonstrates its accuracy for the line optical tweezers. The line optical tweezers system is established to produce the optical intensity distribution of a line pattern and to trap the micro-sized beads. The main parameter, optical intensity distribution, is used to calculate the trapping force distribution in the model. The two forces, trapping force and water dragging force, and the equation of motion is used to simulate the trajectory of micro-sized beads as they pass through the line pattern in flowing water in the microchannel. The trajectory is analyzed to determine the effective separation distance between the microsized beads or cells. The method will be applied in biological and medical detection. (C) 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physics DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.48.072502