Optically-controlled containers for experiments in soft matter

We request funds to design and build a unique optical force-measurement device to measure the energy paths of small, soft systems that are driven out of equilibrium, where theory is no longer predictive. The device is flexible, allowing a number of different experimental configurations. One configuration is an optically-controlled micro-container which will squeeze a confined colloidal fluid while simultaneously measuring the required forces; another is an optically-controlled 2-D soft surface to develop micro-rheology techniques near membranes; whilst yet another configuration is an n-point force measurement device, for unraveling the strands of single ds-DNA molecules or pulling on the arms of star polymers.