History of Optical Tweezers
Most of the early work in this field was done by Arthur Ashkin of Bell Labs.
- 1978: two opposing laser beams were used to trap and cool atoms [1].
- 1986: a single laser focused through a microscope was used to trap polystyrene balls with diameters 10 ?m to 25 nm [2].
- 1987: bacteria and protozoa were trapped, first with a 514.5 nm Ar laser, followed by a 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser [3], [4].