Optical fibre gripper for high-performance 3D micromanipulation

Article

Published: 17 June 2026

Deng Pan

ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0004-9282-7327 1 , 2 ,

Kaiwen Liang 2 ,

Chen Xin

ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0008-8885-0339 2 ,

Lei Zhong 2 ,

Shaojun Jiang 2 ,

Chenchu Zhang

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3433-598X 3 ,

Liang Yang

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6103-6451 2 ,

Zhiqiang Wang

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3642-5804 1 ,

Zhaoxin Lao

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7673-0590 3 ,

Jincheng Ni

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9308-4511 2 ,

Chaowei Wang

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9963-9917 2 ,

Jiawen Li

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3950-6212 2 ,

Shenglai Zhen 1 ,

Benli Yu 1 ,

Zhixiang Huang 1 ,

Fang-Wen Sun

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9625-7390 2 ,

Jiaru Chu 2 ,

Yanlei Hu

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1964-0043 2 ,

Li Zhang

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1152-8962 4 &

…

Dong Wu

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0623-1515 1 , 2

Nature

( 2026 ) Cite this article

Abstract

Optical tweezers offer precise, non-contact control, but operate in a limited force regime and impose strict requirements on the characteristics of the targets as well as the environmental conditions 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 . Millimetre-scale mechanical tweezers can offer higher gripping force but are not suitable for precise manipulations 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 . Integrating microgrippers directly at the optical fibres provides a new approach for precise micromanipulation. However, existing fibre-integrated tweezers still face challenges in achieving high-performance manipulation of micro-objects (for example, single cells) within narrow spaces, mainly due to simplified architectures, constrained designs and millimetre-scale footprints 12 , 13 , 14 . Here we report a three-dimensional (3D) optical fibre gripper (OFG), which is fabricated by two-step, two-photon polymerization. The OFG consists of rigid photoresist microclaws and soft thermoresponsive hydrogel muscle doped with silver nanoparticles, and its size is only 38 × 38 × 61 μm 3 . The OFG exhibits a force-to-mass ratio of about 340 μN mg −1 , outperforming previously reported fibre-integrated tweezers by one to two orders of magnitude. The OFG can manipulate opaque particles, irregular micromechanical components and diverse single-cell types. We further demonstrated its potential in 3D microassembly of complex microdevices (bearings, shafts and gearboxes) and biomimetic sampling in the narrow environment (<300 μm). These results position the OFG as a compact fibre-tip manipulator for 3D micromanipulation, offering reversible and tunable gripping in an intermediate force regime between optical field trapping and millimetre-scale mechanical tweezers.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals

Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription

27,99 € / 30 days

cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 52 print issues and online access

199,00 € per year

only 3,83 € per issue

Buy this article

Purchase on SpringerLink

Instant access to the full article PDF.

39,95 €

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Additional access options:

Log in

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Read our FAQs

Contact customer support

Fig. 1: Bioinspired muscle–bone structural design of 3D OFG. The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 2: Fibre integration and photothermal actuation of 3D composite material OFG. The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 3: High-performance 3D manipulation of opaque, irregular and centimetre-length objects using the OFG. The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 4: Single-cell 3D delicate micromanipulation based on OFG. The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 5: Sampling in narrow environment with OFG. The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Data availability

Source data are provided with this paper. All other data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

References

Volpe, G. et al. Roadmap for optical tweezers. J. Phys. Photon. 5 , 022501 (2023).

Article

Google Scholar

Zhang, H. & Liu, K.-K. Optical tweezers for single cells. J. R. Soc. Interface 5 , 671–690 (2008).

Article

CAS

PubMed

PubMed Central

Google Scholar

Omine, R., Masui, S., Kadoya, S., Michihata, M. & Takahashi, S. Manipulation of large, irregular-shape particles using contour-tracking optical tweezers. Opt. Lett. 49 , 2773–2776 (2024).

Article

ADS

PubMed

Google Scholar

Bustamante, C. J., Chemla, Y. R., Liu, S. & Wang, M. D. Optical tweezers in single-molecule biophysics. Nat. Rev. Methods Primers 1 , 25 (2021).

Article

CAS

PubMed

PubMed Central

Google Scholar

He, C. et al. Magnetically actuated dexterous tools for minimally invasive operation inside the brain. Sci…