High-speed holographic optical tweezers using a ferroelectric liquid crystal microdisplay

We demonstrate the advantages of a ferroelectric liquid crystal spatial light modulator for optical tweezer array applications. The fast switching speeds of the ferroelectric device (compared to conventional nematic systems) is shown to enable very rapid reconfiguration of trap geometries, controlled, high speed particle movement, and tweezer array multiplexing. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.