Optical Tweezers

Physicist Thomas LeBrun uses a special joystick to manipulate nanowires with "optical tweezers." A highly focused laser beam attracts microscopic objects and can be used to pick up and precisely position nanocomponents for building semiconductor circuits or biosensors smaller than a red blood cell. Tools for manipulating nanocomponents will help accelerate research on the performance of new nanotechnologies.

Precision Engineering Division