Optical trapping and manipulation with a low NA objective through 3D printed micro-mirrors, Gheorghe Cojoc, Andrea Bertoncini, Paul Müller, Jochen Guck, Carlo Liberale
Dual-beam laser traps (DBLT) became widely used as biophysical tool once a simplified experimental setup was proposed, simplification achieved by replacing the objectives with optical fibers to deliver the laser beams. However, fiber alignment can be inconvenient and requires a lot of practice. Here, we present a novel way to overcome these issues by combining reconfigurable diffractive optical elements (DOE) and two photon lithography (2PL). A single laser beam is divided into several beams by displaying a DOE on a spatial light modulator (SLM). This allows us to dynamically reconfigure the number of the beams and their shape. We use 2PL fabricated micro-mirrors to direct the laser beams against each other and obtain a DBLT. Our preliminary results show the ability to trap biological samples and their full 3D manipulation. The ability to use DOEs to set the DBLT beam shape allows this technique to be coupled with novel forms of microscopy.