Design and Construction of an Inverted Microscope to be Used in IR Optical Tweezers

ISLAND CURE is a new research collaboration with a focus on using physics techniques and apparatuses to make biochemical measurements. Within the larger scope of the ISLAND CURE, there are many different aspects of research, all of which involve undergraduate students. One of our goals will be to create tools that are low-cost to share with other departments and researchers with a limited budget. One of our objectives is to build an infrared optical tweezing system to study DNA. For this, we will need to design and construct a relatively inexpensive inverted microscope. This talk will be focused on the microscopy calculations we made for the design as well as the material design and construction. This demonstrates a cost-effective method using undergraduate students to move towards more complicated biochemical measurements.