Physics Nobel Laureates Women

Marie Curie (1867-1934) Maria G Mayer (1906-72) Donna Strickland (1959)

Light Tweezers
Arthur Ashkin invented optical tweezers that grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells
with their laser beam fingers. This new tool allowed Ashkin to realise an old dream of science
fiction – using the radiation pressure of light to move physical objects. He succeeded in getting
laser light to push small particles towards the centre of the beam and to hold them there. Optical
tweezers had been invented. A major breakthrough came in 1987, when Ashkin used the
tweezers to capture living bacteria without harming them. He immediately began studying
biological systems and optical tweezers are now widely used to investigate the machinery of life.

Laser Pulse Compression/Expansion Technique

Does Laser Light Exerts Force in Focal Plane? Yes!

Mechanical/Laser Tweezers

Microscope/Mechanical Tweezers
 Laser Tweezers

Laser Light Force

Microwave cavities

Magnetron
 Magnetron output

Outside Microwave oven

Bandwidth & Linewidth

Bandwidth
Bandwidth refers to range of frequencies. Bandwidth is also the amount of data that can be transmitted
in a fixed amount of time. For digital devices, the bandwidth is usually expressed in bits per second (bps)
or bytes per second. For analog devices, the bandwidth is expressed in cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz).

Analog

Digital

A range of radio frequencies which is occupied by a modulated carrier wave, which is assigned to a
service, or over which a device can operate. Commercial bandwidths are:
 WiFi USB Laptop

Fiber optics have a higher capacity. The amount of network bandwidth a fiber cable can carry easily
exceeds that of a copper cable with similar thickness. Fiber cables rated at 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps and even 100
Gbps are standard. Current state of art is:

Linewidth
The linewidth ( or ) of a laser is a measure of its phase noise. In frequency domain linewidth is given
in MHz and GHz, and in spectral domain in pm and ns (cm-1). In terms of coherence length (x) the
linewidth may be given by

Alternatively (c = or  = c/ or  = (c/2)) using above

Typical values of linewidth are

Linewidth refers to how monochromatic the laser is. It may also be given in terms of divergence () and
intracavity dispersion (d/d).

Absorption and emission linewidth spectra

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)

Breath analysis for diseases