Laser Trap

Optical tweezers

Optical tweezers are scientific instruments that use a highly focused laser beam to hold and move microscopic and sub-microscopic objects like atoms, nanoparticles and droplets, in a manner similar to tweezers. If the object is held in air or vacuum without additional support, it can be called optical levitation.

Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word laser originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The first laser was built in 1960 by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories, based on theoretical work by Charles H. Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow and the optical amplifier patented by Gordon Gould.

laser

Noun

1. A device that produces a monochromatic, coherent beam of light.
2. A beam of light produced by such a device; a laser beam.

Verb

1. To cut, destroy or treat with a laser.
2. To throw or kick with laser-like precision.

trap

Noun

1. A machine or other device designed to catch (and sometimes kill) animals, either by holding them in a container, or by catching hold of part of the body.
2. A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare.

Verb

1. To physically capture, to catch in a trap or traps, or something like a trap.
2. To ensnare; to take by stratagem; to entrap.