Selected for the December 2007 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research

We used optical tweezers to manipulate individual micron-sized samples while revealing their inner nanostructure by synchrotron diffraction experiments. We applied this technique to the study of clusters of multilamellar liposomes, trapped in single and multiple positions in the optical path of a microfocused X-ray beam and analyzed in a microscanning mode. The signal to background ratio of the first order peak shows that single liposome measurements are feasible.

D. Cojoc, E. Ferrari, V. Garbin, E. Di Fabrizio , H. Amenitsch, M. Rappolt, B. Sartori, P. Laggner, M. Burghammer, C. Riekel, Applied Physics Letters 91, 234107 (2007)