Optical Tweezers have become a widespread tool in Cell Biology, microengineering and other fields requiring delicate micromanipulation. But for those sensitive tasks, it remains difficult to handle objects without damaging them. As the precision in position and force measurement increase, the richness of information cannot be fully exploited with simple interfaces such as a mouse or a common joystick. For this reason, we propose a haptic force-feedback optical tweezer command and a force-feedback system controlled by one hand. The system combines accurate force measurement using a fast camera and the coupling of these measured forces with a human operator. The overall transparency allows even the feeling of the Brownian motion.

Date Published: 20 August 2009
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7400, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VI, 74001L (20 August 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.826158

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7400:
Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VI
Kishan Dholakia; Gabriel C. Spalding, Editor(s)