Optical tweezers consist of a special laser beam
that can hold and move small objects.

Inverted microscope (Zeiss, Axiovert 100TV) with halogen-lamp illumination. The microscope is equipped with a 3D piezo scanner (Physik Instrumente, P-733.2DD & P-721.CDQ) allowing for nanometric position control of the sample. The sample stage is temperature controlled (5-50oC) by means of a water bath. The microscope is equipped with objectives ranging between 10x,NA0.3 to 100x, NA1.45. Fluorescence excitation is alternatively achieved by an Ar-laser (Coherent, Innova300, 5W all lines), fiber-coupled into the microscope (20mW) and a diode-laser at 635nm and output power of 30mW.

Fluorescence microscope

Inverted microscopes (Zeiss, Axiovert 100TV) with halogen-lamp illumination. The sample stage is temperature controlled (5-50oC) by means of a water bath. The microscopes are equipped with objectives ranging between 10x, NA0.3 to 100x, NA1.45. Fluorescence excitation is achived by an Ar/Kr-laser (Spectra Physics, 2060-10, 3W all lines), fiber-coupled into the microscope. The single-line power at the objective is < 20mW. The wavelength and excitation timing is controlled by an acousto-optical filter (AA-OptoElectronic, AOTFnC-VIS).

Home built inverted microscope with CCD camera and magnetic tweezers

Spinning disc confocal on an inverted optical microscope (Zeiss Axiovert 200). The inverted microscope has halogen- and Hg-lamp illumination.  A commercial atomic force microscope (Digital Instruments, Bioscope) can also be mounted on the axiovert 200.