Schematic of Photonic Force Microscope (left) for measurements of interparticulate interactions (right)

A Photon Force Microscope (PFM) is based on an optical tweezers system, capable of manipulating nano/microparticles and measuring their interaction forces in the pico-Newton range.

The PFM system will be used to develop SI-traceable methods and procedures to study particle-particle, particle-fibre and particle-molecule interactions. We are in collaboration with Professor Heinrich Hoerber (University of Bristol) to address the challenges related to the measurements of these interactions.

Other aims of our research are to advance the relevant nanoparticle metrology and to develop SI-traceable, transferable standards for low force measurement. We are also interested in applying this technique to systems where inter-particulate interactions play a critical role.

Contact: Deb Roy or Jian Wang.