Optical tweezer arrays and optical substrates created with diffractive optics

We describe a simple method for creating multiple optical tweezers from a single laser beam using diffractive optical elements. As a demonstration of this technique, we have implemented a 4x4 square array of optical tweezers-the hexadeca tweezer. Not only will diffractively generated optical tweezers facilitate many new experiments in pure add applied physics, but they also will be useful for fabricating nanocomposite materials and devices, including photonic bandgap materials and optical circuit elements. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.