Nanoscale virtual potentials using optical tweezers

We combine optical tweezers with feedback to impose arbitrary potentials on a colloidal particle. The feedback trap detects a particle's position, calculates a force based on an imposed “virtual potential,” and shifts the trap center to generate the desired force. We create virtual harmonic and double-well potentials to manipulate particles. The harmonic potentials can be chosen to be either weaker or stiffer than the underlying optical trap. Using this flexibility, we create an isotropic trap in three dimensions. Finally, we show that we can create a virtual double-well potential with fixed well separation and adjustable barrier height. These are accomplished at length scales down to 11 nm, a feat that is difficult or impossible to create with standard optical-tweezer techniques such as time sharing, dual beams, or spatial light modulators.