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Science 23 August 1991:
Vol. 253. no. 5022, pp. 861 - 866
DOI: 10.1126/science.253.5022.861
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Articles

Laser Manipulation of Atoms and Particles

STEVEN CHU 1

1 Professor of physics and applied physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305

A variety of powerful techniques to control the position and velocity of neutral particles has been developed. As examples of this new ability, lasers have been used to construct a variety of traps, to cool atoms to temperatures below 3 x 10-6 kelvin, and to create atomic fountains that may give us a hundredfold increase in the accuracy of atomic clocks. Bacteria can be held with laser traps while they are being viewed in an optical microscope, and organelles within a cell can be manipulated without puncturing the cell wall. Single molecules of DNA can now be stretched out and pinned down in a water solution with optical traps. These new capabilities may soon be applied to a wide variety of scientific questions as diverse as precision measurements of fundamental symmetries in physics and the study of biochemistry on a single molecule basis.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A general method for manipulating DNA sequences from any organism with optical tweezers.
D. N. Fuller, G. J. Gemmen, J. P. Rickgauer, A. Dupont, R. Millin, P. Recouvreux, and D. E. Smith (2006)
Nucleic Acids Res. 34, e15
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Guiding neuronal growth with light.
A. Ehrlicher, T. Betz, B. Stuhrmann, D. Koch, V. Milner, M. G. Raizen, and J. Kas (2002)
PNAS 99, 16024-16028
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stretching of a single tethered polymer in a uniform flow.
T. Perkins, D. Smith, R. Larson, and S Chu (1995)
Science 268, 83-87
   Abstract »    PDF »
Alignment and sensitive detection of DNA by a moving interface.
A Bensimon, A Simon, A Chiffaudel, V Croquette, F Heslot, and D Bensimon (1994)
Science 265, 2096-2098
   Abstract »    PDF »
Direct observation of tube-like motion of a single polymer chain.
T. Perkins, D. Smith, and S Chu (1994)
Science 264, 819-822
   Abstract »    PDF »
Relaxation of a single DNA molecule observed by optical microscopy.
T. Perkins, Quake SR, D. Smith, and S Chu (1994)
Science 264, 822-826
   Abstract »    PDF »
Direct mechanical measurements of the elasticity of single DNA molecules by using magnetic beads.
S. Smith, L Finzi, and C Bustamante (1992)
Science 258, 1122-1126
   Abstract »    PDF »
Deterministic Delivery of a Single Atom.
S. Kuhr, W. Alt, D. Schrader, M. Muller, V. Gomer, and D. Meschede (2001)
Science 293, 278-280
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Tuning DNA "strings": Modulating the rate of DNA replication with mechanical tension.
A. Goel, M. D. Frank-Kamenetskii, T. Ellenberger, and D. Herschbach (2001)
PNAS 98, 8485-8489
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)