Optical sorting with lasers

The first theoretical attempts in the field of time-resolved X-ray diffraction were entirely empirical. More precise theoretical work appeared only in the late 1990s and is due to Wilson et al. [13-16]. However, this theoretical work still remained preliminary. A really satisfactory approach must be statistical. In fact, macroscopic transport coefficients like diffusion constant or chemical rate constant break down at ultrashort time scales. Even the notion of a molecule becomes ambiguous at which interatomic distance can the atoms A and B of a molecule A-B be considered to be free Another element of consideration is that the electric field of the laser pump is strong, and that its interaction with matter is nonlinear. What is needed is thus a statistical theory reminiscent of those from time-resolved optical spectroscopy. A theory of this sort was elaborated by Bratos and co-workers and was published over the last few years [17-19]. 

For the second task second harmonic generation by quartz has been proposed. The first procedure is to determine the relative intensity of SH compared with etalon, where the ratio of SH intensities is used for sorting. In the second procedure the laser source is working with a very high repetition rate and the number of pulses with SH intensity above a certain level is used as the separation criterion. Sorting using non-linear optics may be very effective, because... 

The modes of thinking about structures and reactions and intermediates facilitated or even demanded by these conceptual innovations meshed productively with new tools of a different sort to drive the progress of recent decades. Advances in electronics and computers, all sorts of spectroscopy, laser optics and physics, chromatography, mass spectrometry, quantum theory and computational strategies, molecular beam experiments, and so on, radically expanded the limits of experimental and theoretical investigations. 

The radiation pressure exerted by light is very weak. A bright laser beam of several milliwatts of power can exert only a few piconewtons (pN) of force. However, a force of 10 pN is enough to pull a cell of E. coli through water ten times faster than it can swim.213 In about 1986, it was found that a laser beam focused down to a spot of - one K ( 1 pm for an infrared laser) can trap and hold in its focus a retractile bead of 1 pm diameter. This "optical tweezers" has become an important experimental tool with many uses.213 214 For example, see Fig. 19-19. Not only are optical tweezers of utility in studying biological motors but also mechanical properties of all sorts of macromolecules can be examined. For example, DNA can be stretched and its extensibility measured.215 Actin filaments have even been tied into knots 216... 

Fig. 9.1. A sorting flow cytometer (MoFlo by Cytomation). The outward complexity of this instrument compared with benchtop cytometers (see Fig. 1.5) reflects the electronic controls necessary for sorting as well as the adaptability of research cytometers with regard to multiple lasers and to the filters and mirrors in the optical light path for multiparameter analysis.

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