Abstract: As a versatile tool for trapping and manipulating neutral particles, optical tweezers have been studied in a broad range of fields such as molecular biology, nanotechnology, and experimentally physics since Arthur Ashkin pioneered the field in the early 1970s. By levitating the “sensor” with a laser beam instead of adhering it to solid components, excellent environmental decoupling is achieved. Furthermore, unlike levitating particles in liquid or air, optical tweezers operating in vacuum are isolated from environmental thermal noise, thus eliminating the primary source of dissipation present for most inertial sensors. This attracted great attention in both fundamental and applied physics. In this paper we review the history and the basic concepts of optical tweezers in vacuum and provide an overall understanding of the field.

Key words: Optical tweezers, Optical trapping in vacuum, Optical cooling

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