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  • Building on Arthur Ashkin’s Nobel Prize-winning optical tweezers, which revolutionized biological research through light-based manipulation of microscale matter, we are advancing the next generation of optical manipulation technologies. Our user-friendly techniques enable precise control over the motion, interaction, and composition of matter across multiple scales. By harnessing light-induced thermal, chemical, electrical, and acoustic effects, we expand functionality, enhance material compatibility, and reduce power needs. These innovations open new frontiers in measurement, manufacturing, active matter systems, and microrobotics.

  • We harness dual-faceted optical manipulation—using light to control matter and matter to modulate light—to advance spectroscopy and microscopy with high sensitivity, resolution, and speed. Our microscopy platform integrates optical rotation and machine learning for volumetric imaging and precise organism classification. We develop adhesion frequency assays to quantify dynamic cell–cell interactions and enhance chiroptical spectroscopy for label-free, ultrasensitive enantiodiscrimination. These innovations drive progress in biomedical research, pharmaceutical analysis, space biology, and clinical diagnostics.

  • By assembling nanostructures into architected materials such as metamaterials, we unlock new ways to manipulate light and explore fundamental light–matter interactions. Drawing inspiration from nature and harnessing artificial intelligence, we design these materials for diverse applications, including optical tweezing, sensing, energy harvesting, thermal management, computing, and communication. Our sustainable light-driven fabrication and advanced measurement techniques enable on-demand production and precise characterization from single nanostructures to large-scale ensembles.

About

We imagine a future where light and matter dance, each shaping the other to unlock discoveries and innovations that transform science, engineering, and medicine. Our research is guided by three core goals:

  • To explore fundamental nanoscale light-matter interactions
  • To develop advanced optical manipulation and measurement technologies
  • To apply these innovations and the resulting materials, devices, and systems across diverse fields

 Group Leader:

 Yuebing Zheng
 Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering
 Materials Science and Engineering Program
 Texas Materials Institute
 The University of Texas at Austin
 Austin, TX 78712, United States
 Phone: 1 (512) 471-0228
 Email: zheng@austin.utexas.edu

 Other affiliations:
 Chandra Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
 Department of Biomedical Engineering
 Center for Electrochemistry
 Center for Planetary Systems Habitability

Recent Publications

Featured Publications

Optically Transforming Waste to Treasure [Nat. Commun. 2024]

Bioinspired Swarms of Optical Robots [Sci. Adv. 2024]

Book: Nanophotonics and Machine Learning [Springer 2023]

Optical Nanomotors on Solid Substrates [ACS Nano 2022]

Opto-Refrigerative Tweezers [Science Advances 2021]

Opto-Thermoelectric Nanotweezers [Nature Photonics 2018]

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