Abstract
The optical tweezers technique is wildly used to constrain and move small particles, like single cells and organelles, in solution by using a light microscope and a laser beam. The force generated by laser tweezers can stretch, bend, or distort single macromolecules, such as DNA and RNA. By providing an unprecedented means to manipulate on the microscopic scale, optical tweezers have played a significant role in biology, especially in the single molecular field. In this thesis, we describe the design and construction of optical tweezers system. At the beginning, we establish the simplified optical tweezers system, which can be used in the cellular level research. In order to study the single motor protein’s behavior in the nanometer scale, we design and construct the high-resolution optical tweezers system. Currently, the high-resolution system can measure the nanometer displacement of the sample. The system’s stiffness is calculated by using the Lorenztian model with well alignment. The system can apply the force ranging from femtonewtons to nanonewtons. This is ideal range for exerting forces on biological molecule and for measuring their response.