Lateral Mean Exit Time of a Spherical Particle Trapped in an Optical Tweezer
We apply the Fokker-Planck equation to analyze the stochastic behavior of a 1-micron diameter polystyrene bead trapped in water using an optical tweezer. Due to thermal noise, given enough time, a trapped particle will escape con nement from the trap. However, at biological temperatures, for laser powers of greater than approximately 5 milliwatts at the focus, the mean rst exit time in the lateral
