SGER: Trapping and Controlling Single Nanoscale Objects

斯坦福大学的W. E. Moerner教授和他的研究生将在这项由化学部实验物理化学项目资助的探索性研究小额赠款（SGER）中研究反布朗电泳（ABEL）陷阱的开发。该陷阱将允许捕获和操纵纳米级物体用于化学和物理研究。该项目的最终目标是设计一种可靠的方法来捕获和操纵单个分子。这种陷阱在物理、化学和生物科学中有着广泛的用途。研究溶液中单个纳米物体的一个困难是它们不断受到来自溶剂的随机力的冲击。这就产生了我们熟悉的布朗运动。由Moerner和他的学生开发的ABEL陷阱通过使用快速显微成像作为反馈回路的输入来消除这种情况，该反馈回路控制含有样品的电泳细胞上的电压。通过调整电压，实时地，粒子上的随机布朗力与相反的电泳力相抵消。通过这种方式，单个物体可以在很长一段时间内保持大致静止，也可以沿着实验者定义的轨迹移动。该工具将有助于在单个位置长时间研究单个纳米级物体，或用于操纵单个物体或物体组以精确控制研究化学物理过程。

In this Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER), funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Prof. W. E. Moerner of Stanford University and his graduate research students will work on the development of the Anti-Brownian Electrophoretic [ABEL] trap. The trap will allow the trapping and manipulation of nanoscopic objects for chemical and physical studies. The ultimate goal of the project is to design a robust method for trapping and manipulating single molecules. Such a trap would find a wide variety of uses in the physical, chemical and biological sciences. A difficulty in studying single nanoscale objects in solution is that they are constantly buffeted by random forces from the solvent. This results in the familiar Brownian motion. The ABEL trap, to be developed by Moerner and his students, eliminates this by using fast microscopic imaging as the input to a feedback loop that governs the voltages on an electrophoretic cell, containing the sample. By adjusting the voltages, in real time, the random Brownian forces on the particle are countered with opposing electrophoretic forces. In this way, a single object can be held roughly stationary for extended periods or may be moved along a trajectory defined by the experimenter. This tool will be useful for studying single nanoscopic objects for extended periods of time in a single location, or for manipulating single objects or groups of objects to study chemical physical processes with exquisite control.