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In situ wavefront correction and its application to micromanipulation

Nature Photonics volume 4, pages 388–394 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

In any optical system, distortions to a propagating wavefront reduce the spatial coherence of a light field, making it increasingly difficult to obtain the theoretical diffraction-limited spot size. Such aberrations are severely detrimental to optimal performance in imaging, nanosurgery, nanofabrication and micromanipulation, as well as other techniques within modern microscopy. We present a generic method based on complex modulation for true in situ wavefront correction that allows compensation of all aberrations along the entire optical train. The power of the method is demonstrated for the field of micromanipulation, which is very sensitive to wavefront distortions. We present direct trapping with optimally focused laser light carrying power of a fraction of a milliwatt as well as the first trapping through highly turbid and diffusive media. This opens up new perspectives for optical micromanipulation in colloidal and biological physics and may be useful for various forms of advanced imaging.

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Figure 1: Wavefront correction.
Figure 2: Demonstration of the optimization method.
Figure 3: Wavefront correction for trapping.
Figure 4: Trapping through a turbid medium.
Figure 5: Quantification of wavefront flatness.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support for this project from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Thanks also go to W.M. Lee and R. Marchington for technical advice and support. K.D. is a Royal Society–Wolfson Merit Award holder.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, Fife, KY16 9SS, UK

    Tomáš Čižmár, Michael Mazilu & Kishan Dholakia

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  1. Tomáš Čižmár
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  2. Michael Mazilu
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  3. Kishan Dholakia
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Contributions

T.Č. and M.M. developed the presented method. T.Č. performed all the experiments and subsequent data analysis. K.D. planned the project. All authors participated in the analysis and discussion of the results and writing of the paper.

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Correspondence to Tomáš Čižmár.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Čižmár, T., Mazilu, M. & Dholakia, K. In situ wavefront correction and its application to micromanipulation. Nature Photon 4, 388–394 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.85

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