Measuring colloidal forces from particle position deviations inside an optical trap

We measure interaction forces between pairs of charged PMMA colloidal particles suspended in a relatively low-polar medium (5 less than or similar to epsilon less than or similar to 8) directly from the deviations of particle positions inside two time-shared optical traps. The particles are confined to optical point traps; one is held in a stationary trap and the other particle is brought closer in small steps while tracking the particle positions using confocal microscopy. From the observed particle positions inside the traps we calculate the interparticle forces using an ensemble-averaged particle displacement-force relationship. The force measurements are confirmed by independent measurements of the different parameters using electrophoresis and a scaling law for the liquid-solid phase transition. When increasing the salt concentration by exposing the sample to UV light, the force measurements agree well with the classical DLVO theory assuming a constant surface potential. On the other hand, when adding tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBAC) to vary the salt concentration, surface charge regulation seems to play an important role.