Fluorescence Color Control by means of Optical Tweezers

Abstract

Beautiful fluorescence is very attractive in chemistry. For further applications of fluorescence, it is much important to control and modulate fluorescence color. So far, various techniques and methodologies have been proposed and demonstrated to control and modulate fluorescence color. All these approaches require touching the fluorescent material; modification of molecular structure, exchanging solvents (solvatochromism), and applying mechanical stress. In contrast, by using optical tweezers, we propose novel techniques that enable us to control and modulate fluorescence color in a remote and non-contact manner. We demonstrate that optical tweezers can control initial photochemical processes such as solvation, excimer formation, and FRET.