Milestone-Proposal:Optical Tweezers

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Docket #:2024-02

This proposal has been submitted for review.

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To the proposer’s knowledge, is this achievement subject to litigation? No

Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes

Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s designated fields as defined by IEEE Bylaw I-104.11, namely: Engineering, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Biological and Medical Sciences, Mathematics, Technical Communications, Education, Management, and Law and Policy. Yes

Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes

Was it of at least regional importance? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes

Has the IEEE Section(s) in which the plaque(s) will be located agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes

Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes

Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an IEEE Milestone? Yes

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Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:

1970-1997

Title of the proposed milestone:

Optical Trapping and its applications including atomic cooling and manipulation of biological systems, 1970

Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance; if personal name(s) are included, such name(s) must follow the achievement itself in the citation wording: Text absolutely limited by plaque dimensions to 70 words; 60 is preferable for aesthetic reasons.

Optical trapping was demonstrated in 1969 using lasers to capture and manipulate atoms and molecules. This groundbreaking discovery at Bell Labs by Arthur Ashkin, and subsequent research by Steven Chu, sparked a global scientific pursuit to confine microscopic objects, from atoms and living organisms. Optical traps, and in particular optical tweezers, have become powerful tools in biology, chemistry, medicine, and physics, enabling non-destructive exploration of the mechanics of life and fundamental physical processes.

200-250 word abstract describing the significance of the technical achievement being proposed, the person(s) involved, historical context, humanitarian and social impact, as well as any possible controversies the advocate might need to review.

"The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics honors “groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics” on opposite ends of the time and intensity scale." "Arthur Ashkin of the United States invented “optical tweezers,” which use low-power laser beams to manipulate tiny objects such as living cells." "Working at Bell Labs in 1970, Ashkin first showed that the pressure of lasers emitting tightly focused, stable beams of light could move small particles. The following year, he showed that an upwards pointing laser beam could provide enough of a push on a small particle to offset the force of gravity. But that levitation found only limited use because other forces such as Brownian motion in water can easily push such a small particle out of the laser beam’s path. In 1986, Ashkin and a Bell Labs team including Steven Chu developed optical tweezers. Their invention featured a short-focus lens that created a strong gradient in the laser beam capable of trapping particles from tens of nanometers to tens of micrometers, even in water. That technique was soon used to demonstrate feats including laser cooling of atoms, for which Steven Chu shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics." [Ref 1] 2018 Nobel Physics Prize for Pioneering Laser Work The honorees, recognized for work on ultrashort, ultrapowerful laser pulses, and delicate laser manipulation of tiny biological structures, include the first woman to get the physics prize since 1963 Jeff Hecht 02 Oct 2018

IEEE technical societies and technical councils within whose fields of interest the Milestone proposal resides.

Photonics, Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Instrumentation & Measurements

In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?

North Jersey Section

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):

Unit: North Jersey Section
Senior Officer Name: Emad Farag

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:

Unit: North Jersey Section
Senior Officer Name: Emad Farag

IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):

IEEE Section: North Jersey Section
IEEE Section Chair name: Emad Farag

Milestone proposer(s):

Proposer name: Katherine Grace August, PhD
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Proposer name: Thomas M Willis, III PhD
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Proposer name: Theodore Sizer, II PhD
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Proposer name: Mathini Sellathurai, PhD
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Proposer name: Rene-Jean Essiambre
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates in decimal form of the intended milestone plaque site(s):

600 Mountain Avenue, Murray Hill, NJ  07974   40.684031, -74.401783

Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.

Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need. Intention is to have the plaque just outside the main entrance to the Nokia Bell Labs facility in Murray Hill, NJ.  Is both a corporate building and an Historic Site as other historical markers from IEEE are already on site both inside and outside the building. 

Are the original buildings extant?

Yes.

Details of the plaque mounting:

Outside the building on a rock or other permanent structure.

How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?

The plaque will be placed outside prior to entering the building and thus there is no need to pass through security.

Who is the present owner of the site(s)?

Nokia Bell Labs.

What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)? If personal names are included in citation, include detailed support at the end of this section preceded by "Justification for Inclusion of Name(s)". (see section 6 of Milestone Guidelines)

Justification for Inclusion of Name(s):

Arthur Ashkin and Steven Chu worked together at Bell Labs on optical confinement. Both won the Nobel Prize for their work on optical trapping.

Optical Trapping

Light interacts with matters through various mechanisms such as the photoelectric effect, thermal absorption, light reflection and diffraction. In the 1960s, when small particles were illuminated by a laser, random motion was observed that originated from thermal effects. In 1969 [ash70a], Arthur Ashkin demonstrated that it was possible to suppress these thermal effects sufficiently to enable stable trapping of particles using the momentum of light, or radiation pressure. This discovery is widely considered as the birth of optical trapping and is a milestone paper of Physical Review Letter [prl50]. Within a year [ash70b], Ashkin proposed optical trapping of atoms. In 1971, Ashkin demonstrated optical levitation [ash71]. More studies followed on optical trapping [ash78a,ash78b] and its applications were published by Ashkin and his colleagues as well as other scientists [ash06]. In 1985, an important step towards three-dimensional atom confinement was demonstrated in a form of optical molasse [chu85].

Applications of Optical Trapping

In 1986, two milestone papers were published that established the power of optical trapping. The first is the demonstration of the optical trapping using a single laser beam, that has come to be known as optical tweezers [ash86]. In this paper, optical trapping of dielectric spheres from 10 mm down to 25 nm in diameter using a single beam was demonstrated, building on a concept that Ashkin himself had originally proposed in 1978 [ash78a]. The second landmark paper was the achievement of trapping a small group of atoms using optical tweezers [chu86]. These two pioneering experiments were performed by three researchers, Ashkin, Chu and Bjorkholm (see picture).

Nobel Prizes

These two pivotal papers led to two Nobel Prizes in Physics. The first Nobel Prize was in 1997 awarded jointly to Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William D. Phillips "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light" while the 2018 Nobel Prize was awarded to Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland. Ashkin’s citation is “for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems”.

Light Manipulation of "Living Things"

In 1987, Ashkin used optical tweezers to trap and manipulate “tiny living things” like viruses and bacteria [ash87] and spermatozoids [ash06]. He also demonstrated the ability of optical tweezers to act inside cells and displace or reorganize organelles [ash89]. Objects of irregular shapes were also optically trapped by Arthur, establishing the breadth of objects optical tweezers could trap.

Expansion in application of Optical Tweezers

The fields of applications of optical tweezers have grown dramatically since the first experiments by Ashkin, Chu and Bjorkholm. In the areas of biology and medicine, optical tweezers enabled studying molecular motors, the observation of DNA replication, transcription, and repair, the examination of protein folding as well as the assembly of biomolecular components, among many other applications. Optical tweezers enable the observation and manipulation of the intricate mechanisms of life, with minimum disruption.

The field of material science also greatly benefited from optical tweezers. It is a very powerful tool for the non-destructive measurements of various materials properties and for fabrication of nanoparticles and assemblies [jon16].

The confinement of atoms using optical tweezers has led to a flurry of applications on the fundamentals of physics. These include the study of physical effects at the atomic level and the ability to control forces within and between atoms and molecules. This increases our understanding of the mechanisms of molecular interaction essential for progress in chemistry and nanofabrication.

Multi-beam optical tweezers have been developed to manipulate groups of particles simultaneously. An important application is the development of arrays or matrices of atoms that can be prepared in specific quantum states with controlled interactions. Such arrays of optical tweezers are used for quantum computing [wei17] and high-precision clocks [wie99].

Many companies are now selling commercial instruments built on optical tweezers over a broad range of applications [RP25]. Most commercial optical tweezers are designed for biological sciences in areas such as cellular manipulation, microdissection, particles isolation, microscopy and nanotechnology [gen22]. Other instruments are developed for more general applications of confinement and manipulation of atoms [jon16]. Several conferences are now dedicated exclusively to optical tweezers for different applications.

The impact of optical trapping and in particular optical tweezers on the Society is profound. The development of such non-invasive tools at the atomic and molecular level provides a way to understand physical phenomena often blurred by the large impact that the environment produces on small particles, molecules and atoms. Being able to uncover these mechanisms is fundamental to the progress of humanity.

What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?

The motion of tiny objects under coherent light were observed as early as the mid-1960s. The forces at play however originated from thermal effects. The scientific community at the time thought that the radiation pressure was too small to be observable without being obscured by thermal effects. Arthur Ashikin curiosity and ingenuity drove him, against common wisdom, to find a technique to reduce thermal effects and observe the trapping of tiny objects by radiation pressure. A series of experiments followed leading eventually to atom trapping and the single-beam optical trap, or optical tweezers. Even though Bell Labs supported the work, it wasn’t without questioning what applications this could possibly have, which at the time was not always as clear as today to most researchers. Arthur Ashkin and the researchers who followed in his tracks experienced this scepticism. A similar situation occurred for the subsequent optical trapping of atoms and biological material. It was generally believed that such trapping was either not possible or not useful because of the challenges of spatially confining atoms or “tiny living things” without introducing large degradation or irreparable damages.

What features set this work apart from similar achievements?

This is the first known demonstration of the effect of radiation pressure on objects. It includes the manipulation of biological objects using laser light, for which Arthur Ashkin received the Nobel Prize in 2018. Steven Chu was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in developing methods to cool and trap atoms using laser light.

Why was the achievement successful and impactful?

The groundbreaking discovery or confinement by radiation pressure, especially the optical tweezers, sparked a global scientific pursuit to confine microscopic objects, from atoms and molecules to later, tiny living organisms. Optical traps, and in particular optical tweezers, have become powerful tools in biology, chemistry, medicine, and physics, enabling non-destructive exploration of the mechanics of life and fundamental physical processes.

Supporting texts and citations to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or chapters in scholarly books. 'Scholarly' is defined as peer-reviewed, with references, and published. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article. All supporting materials must be in English, or accompanied by an English translation.

Ashkin, A.  "Acceleration and Traping of Particles by Radiation Pressure", Phys Rev Lett.  V24, #4, 26 Jan 1970; pp156-159

Ashkin, A., Dziedzic, J.M. Bjorkholm, J.E., Chu S. "Observation of a single beam gradient force optical trap for dielectric particles" Optics Lett. V11, #5, May 1986; pp288-290

Ashkin, A., Nobel Prize Lecture 2018

Ashkin, A.  "Trapping of Atoms by Resonance Radiation Pressure", v40, #12, 20 March 1978; pp729-732

Ashkin, A. and Gordon, J.P.; "Stability of radiation-pressure particle traps:  an optical Earnshaw theorem"  Opt. Lett. V8, #10, October 1983 pp511-513

Optical Trapping Discovery and Evolution

[ash70a] Arthur Ashkin, "Acceleration and trapping of particles by radiation pressure", Physical Review Letters, Vol. 24, No 4, pp. 156-159 (1970).

[PRL50] Physical Review Letters, Letters from the past—A PRL retrospective. https://journals.aps.org/prl/50years/milestones . Accessed 3 February 2025.

[ash70b] A. Ashkin, “Atomic-beam deflection by resonance-radiation pressure,” Physical Review Letters, Vol. 25, No. 9, pp. 1321-1324 (1970).

[ash71] Ashkin, Arthur, and J. M. Dziedzic, "Optical levitation by radiation pressure," Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 19, No. 8, pp. 283-285 (1971).

[chu85] Steven Chu, Leo Hollberg, John E Bjorkholm, Alex Cable, and Arthur Ashkin, “Three-dimensional viscous confinement and cooling of atoms by resonance radiation pressure,” Physical Review Letters, Vol. 55, No 1, pp. 48-51 (1985).

Review on Optical Trapping

[ash06] Arthur Ashkin, “Optical Trapping and Manipulation of Neutral Particles Using Lasers: A Reprint Volume with Commentaries,” World Scientific (2006).

[neu04] Keir C. Neuman and Steven M. Block. "Optical trapping," Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 75, No. 9, pp. 2787-2809 (2004).

[wie99] Carl E. Wieman, David E. Pritchard, and David J. Wineland, “Atom cooling, trapping, and quantum manipulation,” Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 71, No. 2, pp. S253-S262 (1999).

Discovery and Demonstration of Optical Tweezers

[ash78a] A. Ashkin, “Trapping of atoms by resonance radiation pressure,” Physical Review Letters, Vol. 40, No 12, pp. 729-732 (1978).

[ash86] Ashkin, Arthur, James M. Dziedzic, John E. Bjorkholm, and Steven Chu. "Observation of a single-beam gradient force optical trap for dielectric particles." Optics Letters, Vol. 11, No. 5, pp. 288-290 (1986).

Optical Trapping of Atoms

[ash78b] J. E. Bjorkholm, R. R. Freeman, A. Ashkin and D. B. Pearson, “Observation of focusing of neutral atoms by the dipole forces of resonance-radiation pressure,” Physical Review Letters, Vol. 41, No 20, pp. 1361-1364 (1978).

[chu86] Steven Chu, John E. Bjorkholm, Arthur Ashkin and Alex Cable, “Experimental observation of optically trapped atoms,” Physical Review Letters, Vol. 57, No 3, pp. 314-317 (1986).

[raa87] E. L. Raab, Mara Prentiss, Alex Cable, Steven Chu, Dave E. Pritchard, “Trapping of neutral sodium atoms with radiation pressure,” Vol. 59, No 23, pp. 2631-2634 (1987)

[chu91] Steven Chu, “Laser Manipulation of Atoms and Particles,” Science, Vol. 253, No 5022, pp. 861-866 (1991).

[chu98] Steven Chu, “Nobel Lecture: The manipulation of neutral particles,” Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 70, No 3, pp. 685-706 (1998).

Biological Applications of Optical Tweezers

[ash87] Arthur Ashkin, Joseph M. Dziedzic, “Optical trapping and manipulation of viruses and bacteria,” Science, Vol. 235, pp. 1517–1520 (1987).

[ash90] Arthur Ashkin, Joseph M. Dziedzic, “Internal cell manipulation using infrared laser traps,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., Vol. 86, pp. 7914–7918 (1989).

Quantum Computing using Optical Tweezers

[wei17] David S. Weiss and Mark Saffman, “Quantum computing with neutral atoms,” Physics Today, Vol. 70, No 7, pp. 44-50 (2017)

Applications of Optical Atom Trapping

[RP50] RP Photonics, Buying Optical Tweezers. https://www.rp-photonics.com/bg/buy_optical_tweezers.html . Accessed 10 February 2025.

[gen22] Arne Gennerich, “Optical Tweezers: Principles and Applications,” 2nd Ed., Vol. 2478, New York, Springer New York (2022).

[jon16] Philip H. Jones, Onofrio M. Maragò, Giovanni Volpe, “Optical Tweezers: Principles and Applications,” 1st Ed. (2016).

Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.

Please email a jpeg or PDF a letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property, and a letter (or forwarded email) from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application to ieee-history@ieee.org with the subject line "Attention: Milestone Administrator." Note that there are multiple texts of the letter depending on whether an IEEE organizational unit other than the section will be paying for the plaque(s).

Please recommend reviewers by emailing their names and email addresses to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please include the docket number and brief title of your proposal in the subject line of all emails.