The ability to manipulate biological cells and micrometre-scale particles plays an important role in many biological and colloidal science applications. However, conventional manipulation techniques--including optical tweezers, electrokinetic forces (electrophoresis, dielectrophoresis, travelling-wave dielectrophoresis), magnetic tweezers, acoustic traps and hydrodynamic flows--cannot achieve high resolution and high throughput at the same time. Optical tweezers offer high resolution for trapping single particles, but have a limited manipulation area owing to tight focusing requirements; on the other hand, electrokinetic forces and other mechanisms provide high throughput, but lack the flexibility or the spatial resolution necessary for controlling individual cells. Here we present an optical image-driven dielectrophoresis technique that permits high-resolution patterning of electric fields on a photoconductive surface for manipulating single particles. It requires 100,000 times less optical intensity than optical tweezers. Using an incoherent light source (a light-emitting diode or a halogen lamp) and a digital micromirror spatial light modulator, we have demonstrated parallel manipulation of 15,000 particle traps on a 1.3 x 1.0 mm2 area. With direct optical imaging control, multiple manipulation functions are combined to achieve complex, multi-step manipulation protocols.

The synthesis of nanowires has advanced in the last decade to a point where a vast range of insulating, semiconducting, and metallic materials1 are available for use in integrated, heterogeneous optoelectronic devices at nanometer scales 2. However, a persistent challenge has been the development of a general strategy for the manipulation of individual nanowires with arbitrary composition. Here we report that individual semiconducting and metallic nanowires with diameters below 20 nm, are addressable with forces generated by optoelectronic tweezers (OET) 3. Using 100,000x less optical power density than optical tweezers, OET is capable of transporting individual nanowires with speeds 4x larger than maximum speeds achieved by optical tweezers. A real-time array of silver nanowires is formed using photopatterned virtual-electrodes, demonstrating the potential for massively parallel assemblies. Furthermore, OET enables the separation of semiconducting and metallic nanowires, suggesting a broad range of applications for the separation and heterogenous integration of one-dimensional nanoscale materials.

Optoelectronic tweezers (OET) are a powerful light-based technique for the manipulation of micro- and nanoscopic particles. In addition to an optically patterned dielectrophoresis (DEP) force, other light-induced electrokinetic and thermal effects occur in the OET device. In this paper, we present a comprehensive theoretical and experimental investigation of various fluidic, optical, and electrical effects present during OET operation. These effects include DEP, light-induced ac electroosmosis, electrothermal flow, and buoyancy-driven flow. We present finite-element modeling of these effects to establish the dominant mode for a given set of device parameters and bias conditions. These results are confirmed experimentally and present a comprehensive outline of the operational regimes of the OET device.

Abstract-This paper reports on cell and microparticle manipulation using optically induced dielectrophoresis. Our novel optoelectronic tweezers (OET) device enables optically controlled trapping, transportation, and sorting via dielectrophoretic forces. By integrating a spatial light modulator and using direct imaging, arbitrary dynamic manipulation patterns are obtained. Here, we demonstrate manipulation functions, including particle collectors, single-particle traps, individually addressable single-particle arrays, light-defined particle channels, and size-based particle sorting. OET-induced particle manipulation velocities are analyzed as a function of the applied voltage, optical pattern linewidth, and single-particle trap dimensions.[ 2006-0210]Index Terms-Dielectrophoresis (DEP), optical tweezers, optically induced DEP, optoelectronic tweezers (OET).

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