ECE Calendar

Abstract:
This talk will discuss application of optical trapping (laser tweezers) and cutting (laser scissors) to particle isolation and manipulation for further analysis. It is well known that small dielectric objects can be trapped by light as a result of momentum conservation of scattered photons. This effect has been utilized for optical trapping and manipulation of various dielectric bodies, most commonly biological specimens such as cells and DNA. This phenomenon is applied, along with optical excision of material to particle manipulation and isolation for further characterization and analysis on a particle-by-particle basis. The underlying physics of the phenomena will be discussed, as well as modeling, instrumentation and experimental results.

Biography:
Dr. Olga Blum Spahn received her B.S. degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1987, and her M. S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990 and 1992, all in Electrical Engineering. In 1993 she joined Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. She has worked in a field of strong field nonlinear interactions, solid state materials and laser interactions, MEMS and photonics integration, as well as semiconductor photonic device design, microfabrication and characterization. Furthermore, she has been involved in optical microsystem design, fabrication and testing. Most recently, she has led an SNL team developing optical trapping and laser cutting for particle forensic applications, in collaboration with other national laboratories. Dr. Spahn has over 100 publication and conference presentations, including several invited talks and book chapters.