Greenleaf William J, Woodside Michael T, Abbondanzieri Elio A, Block Steven M
Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5020, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Nov 11;95(20):208102. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.208102. Epub 2005 Nov 8.
Optical traps are useful for studying the effects of forces on single molecules. Feedback-based force clamps are often used to maintain a constant load, but the response time of the feedback limits bandwidth and can introduce instability. We developed a novel force clamp that operates without feedback, taking advantage of the anharmonic region of the trapping potential where the differential stiffness vanishes. We demonstrate the utility of such a force clamp by measuring the unfolding of DNA hairpins and the effect of trap stiffness on opening distance and transition rates.
光镊对于研究力对单个分子的影响很有用。基于反馈的力钳通常用于维持恒定负载,但反馈的响应时间限制了带宽并可能引入不稳定性。我们开发了一种无需反馈即可运行的新型力钳,利用了捕获势的非谐区域,在该区域微分刚度消失。我们通过测量DNA发夹的解折叠以及陷阱刚度对打开距离和转变速率的影响,证明了这种力钳的实用性。