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We introduce Defocusing Microscopy (DM), a bright-field optical microscopy technique able to perform total three-dimensional (3D) imaging of transparent objects. By total 3D imaging, we mean the determination of the actual shapes of the upper and lower surfaces of a phase object. We propose a methodology using DM and apply it to red blood cells subject to different osmolality conditions: hypotonic, isotonic, and hypertonic solutions. For each situation, the shapes of the upper and lower cell surface-membranes (lipid bilayer/cytoskeleton) are completely recovered, displaying the deformation of red blood cell (RBC) surfaces due to adhesion on the glass-substrate. The axial resolution of our technique allowed us to image surface-membranes separated by distances as small as 300 nm. Finally, we determine the volume, surface area, sphericity index, and RBC refractive index for each osmotic condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a step toward absolute calibration of optical tweezers, a first-principles theory of trapping forces with no adjustable parameters, corrected for spherical aberration, is experimentally tested. Employing two very different setups, we find generally very good agreement for the transverse trap stiffness as a function of microsphere radius for a broad range of radii, including the values employed in practice, and at different sample chamber depths. The domain of validity of the WKB (“geometrical optics”) approximation to the theory is verified. Theoretical predictions for the trapping threshold, peak position, depth variation, multiple equilibria, and “jump” effects are also confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]