Automatic optical tweezers: advanced applications

Optical tweezers have become ubiquitous tools in science with use in disciplines ranging from biology to physics, chemistry, and material sciences with thousands of users around the world and a continuously growing number of applications. Here we show how a specially designed instrument, called miniTweezers2.0, can be made both highly versatile and user friendly. We demonstrate the system on three different experiments, which thanks to the close integration of the various parts of the tweezers into a single software are performed largely autonomously. The first experiment involves DNA stretching, a fundamental single molecule force spectroscopy experiment. The second experiment involved the stretching of red blood cells, which can be used to gauge the membrane stiffness of the cells. Lastly, we investigate the interaction between core-shell particles in various environments. Showing how the soft polymer layer extends, or contracts depending on pH and salinity. Our work show potential of automated and versatile optical tweezers systems in advancing our understanding of nano and micro-scale systems.