Stability of Novel Time-Sharing Dual Optical Tweezers Using a Rotating Tilt Glass Plate

A novel realization of time-sharing optical tweezers (TSOT) is demonstrated using a tilt glass plate. Objects are trapped in the time-sharing dual traps; each of them acts like a single beam gradient trap with an effective stiffness. The effective stiffness of TSOT is experimentally measured through analysis of dynamical images. In comparison, it is numerically calculated by adopting the Monte Carlo technique. Both simulation and experimental results agree well with each other and show a good linear relationship between the effective stiffness and trap switching frequency in the range from 5 Hz to 70 Hz. (cross-disciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)