Abstract
Particle manipulation techniques are important, if not vital, in many research fields. Among the proposed techniques, optical trapping, stretching and sorting are very promising as they allow contactless manipulation of objects in the micrometer range. However it is important to highlight that optical manipulation techniques are generally best suited for single-particle manipulation, whereas several applications would greatly benefit from the possibility of simultaneous multiple-particles manipulation. For this reason, in recent years, trapping and manipulation of objects by dielectrophoretic (DEP) forces has been investigated [1]. DEP forces produced by optoelectronic tweezers represent a valid alternative to micro-fabricated metal electrodes, thanks both to the high electrical fields that can be induced by a photoconductive layer, and to the possibility to reconfigure their E-field spatial distribution. Lithium Niobate (LN) is an ideal material for such applications due to the availability of large area crystals, to its high optical quality and to the strong electric fields that can be produced in the crystal by the photorefractive effect [2]. As a matter of fact the possibility to trap dielectric particles on the surface of x-cut or z-cut LN crystals, by using a low-power spatially-modulated green laser, was successfully demonstrated few years ago by exploiting bulk iron doped LN (Fe:LiNbO3) [3,4].
© 2015 IEEE
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