Tweezers with a Twist

Issued: Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:49:00 BST

Richard Bowman, a graduate student in the Optics Group along with his supervisor, Professor Miles Padgett have contributed the cover story to the latest edition of Nature Photonics.   Tweezers with a Twist is a review of optical tweezers technologies where tightly focussed light beams trap and move microscopic particles.  In particular the angular momentum in the light beam causes these small particles to spin, creating new scientific tools and optical drives for micro-machines.