Patent ID: 8537356

Claim:
A method for manipulating a plurality of nanoparticles comprising: providing a first suspension of fluorescent labeled nanoparticles in a liquid solution; placing a portion of the first suspension within a reservoir; providing a first laser beam from a first laser source and a second laser beam from a second laser source; applying the first laser beam through a focusing optical element and into the reservoir to thereby establish an optical gradient and forming an optical trap within the reservoir; applying the second laser beam to the optical trap to thereby produce fluorescence optical signal from the fluorescent labeled nanoparticles within the optical trap; and detecting the fluorescence optical signal with a photodetector; and processing the detected fluorescence optical signal to determine at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: the quantity of nanoparticles in the first suspension; the quantity of the nanoparticles in the optical trap; the concentration of nanoparticles in the first suspension; the concentration of the nanoparticles in the optical trap; the osmotic compressibility of the nanoparticles in the first suspension; and the osmotic compressibility of the nanoparticles in the optical trap.