Title: “Light-driven Micro-robotics for Contemporary Biophotonics”
Supervisors:
Principal supervisor: Prof. Jesper Glückstad, DTU Fotonik
Co-supervisor: Associate Prof. Darwin Palima, DTU Fotonik
Evaluation Board:
Associate Prof. Kirstine Berg-Sørensen, DTU Fysik
Dr. Simon Hanna, School of Physics, University of Bristol
Dr. Etienne Brasselet, Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine, Université de Bordeaux
Master of the Ceremony:
PhD Andrew Rafael M. Bañas
Abstract:
The field of optical manipulation has evolved from the simple demonstration of radiation forces to more sophisticated trapping setup and trapped objects. This progress has been augmented with improvements in beam shaping techniques, instrumentation and design of trappable objects. The contribution of this thesis in the optical manipulation literature is to introduce a new set of custom-made trappable objects which we call light-driven micro-robots or light robotics. These are self-contained micro-robots that are designed to perform specific tasks. The first micro-robot that we will present is called the wave-guided optical waveguides (WOWs). The WOWs designed for targeted light delivery where a waveguide structure is fabricated and handles for trapping are attached. The waveguide is coupled with a holography-controlled beam. We have shown three-dimensional movement, tracking and coupling. The second micro-robot is designed for material transport where we have fabricated a vessel that can be trapped and manipulated. In addition, an optically controlled loading and unloading mechanism is built inside the micro-robot. It utilizes photothermal heating to generate convection currents that can draw in and out the cargo. Our results show that we can load and unload cargo which can be an important feature in drug delivery. We envision these micro-robots to be an extension of optical manipulation for studying further down in the micro-scale.