The light fantastic: From optical manipulation, neurophotonics to quantum microscopy

Abstract

The spectacular facets of light have made light ubiquitous in all fields of science. Light’s interaction with matter allows for accurate manipulation of atomic and molecular structures that enabled fundamental breakthroughs in physics, chemistry, and biomedical research. Of particular interest in this talk is light’s capability to excite (via photochemical processes) and/or induce motion (via transfer of light’s linear momentum) on microscopic living cells. I will trace developments in using the combination of phase and amplitude spatial light modulation to achieve high-speed spatio-temporal (or four-dimensional) light patterns for manipulating objects and exciting living cells in the brain. In the second part, I will discuss our work that uses spatial transverse modes of light for enhanced particle tracking using squeezed light. We've applied this technique to track intracellular particles within living biological cells.