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SUMMARY:Tiny Hands make Light Work - Prof Miles Padgett\, Department of Ph
 ysics and Astronomy\, University of Glasgow
DTSTART:20080201T141500Z
DTEND:20080201T151500Z
UID:TALK9591@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Kalin Dragnevski
DESCRIPTION:Nearly 20 years ago Arthur Ashkin\, working in Bell Telephone 
 Laboratories\, showed that a single laser beam could trap\, pick up and mo
 ve micron-sized objects including living cells.  This technique was rapidl
 y christened “optical tweezers” and during the 15years after their inv
 ention was used in various biological studies\, including those relating t
 o precise measurements of the forces within muscle motors.  Physicists\, i
 ncluding my own group\, used optical tweezers for detailed investigations 
 into the momentum properties of light\, converting the tweezers into an op
 tical spanner.\n \nAt the turn of the century David Grier revolutionised o
 ptical tweezers by using computer-controlled holograms to split the single
  laser beam into many beams\, allowing trapping of multiple objects simult
 aneously.  Our activity in this area is now directed at using these hologr
 aphic optical tweezers to assemble micro-structures of inert beads and bio
 logical cells.\n \nThis seminar will explain how tweezers work\, what they
  can be used for and what we are presently doing with them.
LOCATION:IRC in Superconductivity Seminar Room\, Cavendish Laboratory
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