Graphene-based holographic opto-thermophoresis tweezers for living cells manipulation and clone

Optical tweezers based on photothermal effects have emerged in recent years as a novel optical trapping technology, offering advantages such as lower trapping power and the ability to manipulate a wider range of particles compared to traditional optical tweezers. Among them, graphene-based optical thermoelectric tweezers have demonstrated notable benefits, including a broader operating bandwidth and improved biocompatibility. However, the surfactants commonly required for thermoelectric tweezers may pose risks to live cells. To address this issue, here we introduce a graphene-based opto-thermophoresis tweezer technology that eliminates the need for surfactants. By leveraging the combined effects of thermophoresis and optical forces, this technology significantly enhances the capability to manipulate live cells. Compared to conventional optical tweezers, our method requires much lower laser trapping power and enables high-throughput cell manipulation under low-magnification objectives.