Optical Tweezers. Nobel Prize in Physics 2018

We would like to invite you to November 19th meeting with dr Sławomir Drobczyński from Wrocław University of Science and Technology on Optical Tweezers, for which this year Nobel Prize was awarded. After the short talk, we will go for a drink or two 🙂

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Już w poniedziałek 19-go listopada zapraszamy na spotkanie z dr. Sławomirem Drobczyńskim z Politechniki Wrocławskiej na temat pęsety optycznej, która zgarnęła połowę tegorocznej nagrody Nobla. Po krótkim spotkaniu zwyczajowo udamy się na szklaneczkę czegoś miłego 🙂

Abstract of the talk

The theory of light pressure was introduced by James Clerk Maxwell in 1873. Fact that light might exert optical force was confirmed experimentally in 1900 by the Russian physicist Piotr Lebedev. A significant breakthrough in the study of optical forces occurred only after the appearance of lasers. A pioneer of experiments with a highly focused laser beam acting on dielectric microobjects was Arthur Ashkin. In 1986, he published his work 1 , in which he described the first successful attempt of optical trapping using a single laser beam. Optical trapping results from the small forces associated with the electric field gradient acting on the dielectric microparticles located in the focused laser beam. Laser beams with powers of hundreds of milliwatts are capable of exerting forces of piconewton orders. Optical trapping technique applicable in many fields of science. Within a few years from the publication of the work by Ashkin, many laboratories around the world have begun many interesting studies. Optical tweezers can be used to manipulate non-living and living matter. It soon turned out that the optical trapping technology allows carrying out previously unattainable tests on the microscale. The possibility of a non-invasive and sterile hold of micro-objects, e.g. cells or biomolecules, has found particular application in biology and medicine.

Dr Sławomir Drobczyński about himself

In 2002 I graduated from in the field of Technical Physics at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. After completing my Master’s studies, I began doctoral studies in Physiological Optics Group headed by Professor Henryk Kasprzak. In 2005, I completed a three-month internship at the University of Murcia in Spain, in a world-renowned research team in the field of physiological optics headed by Professor Pablo Artal. In 2006, before I defended my PhD, I went on a two-month internship in the team of Professor Jean-Pierre Munch at the University of Strasbourg. During my stay in France, I came across the technique of optical trapping for the first time. After completing my internship, in 2006, I obtained the title of Doctor of Physical Sciences and I was employed as a research and teaching assistant at the Institute of Physics of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. In February 2007, I went on a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Strasbourg Institute of Physics and Chemistry of Materials. I learned the technique of optical trapping and its use in molecular biology measurements. Since 2008 I have been employed as Assistant Professor at the Department of Optics and Photonics at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. My scientific interests focused on methods of holographic generation of optical traps, using video cameras and image analysis to track the trajectory and dynamics of trapped objects and the use of optical tweezers for measuring physical parameters in microscale