David Grier's Home Page Department of Physics and Center for Soft Matter Research New York University

News, Press Coverage, and Recent Additions

• Our cover article on holographic immunoassays has been selected by the Editors of Soft Matter as one of the most popular articles of 2020.
• The American Physical Society has a great story about our efforts to develop a COVID-19 diagnostic test based on holographic particle characterization.
• David has been elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2019).
• Read David's comments about the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics (October 2, 2018) and the significance of optical tweezers in
  • the Associated Press
  • the New York Times
  • Agence France Presse
  • Physics Today
  • Popular Science
  • Quanta
• There's lots of news about the Smithsonian Channel's documentary, Building Star Trek, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the original series. The show premiers September 4, 2016.
  • NYU has made a super video about our work on tractor beams. Watch it on YouTube.
  • Smithsonian.com
  • Listen to David's interview with Jordan Hoffman on Engage: The official Star Trek podcast.
  • Watch the Cool Worlds Lab vlog entry about tractor beams from Columbia University.
  • The New York Post, September 2, 2016.
  • The Daily Mail, September 2, 2016.
  • The Fresno Bee, September 2, 2016.
  • TechRepublic
  • Futurity
  • Inside Science
  • BBC in Spanish
  • GeekWire
  • Space.com
  • NYU's press release
• The editors of Soft Matter have selected our article about light-activated swimmers for the front cover of volume 12, issue 30.
• The editors of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences have selected our article about holographic characterization of protein aggregates as a Feature Article for the March, 2016 edition.
• The editors of Physical Review E have chosen our article about colloidal charging as an Editors' Suggestion.
• Our article about monitoring colloidal growth with holographic microscopy was chosen for the cover of the 10th Anniversary edition of Soft Matter.
• Read the article in Scientific American by Ben Fogelson about our work on particle characterization by holographic video microscopy. This is listed as one of ten world-changing ideas for 2014.
• Our articles on long-ranged tractor beams and machine learning for particle characterization were both selected for reprinting in the Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics. See the December 23, 2014 issue.
• David was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in the Division of Condensed Matter Physics (2013).
• Read the OSA's interview with David Grier about making the transition from industry to academia (February 2013).
• Tractor beams have proved popular. See Tim Wogan's article about tractor beams in Physics World. Our Physical Review Letters article has been chosen as an Editors' Suggestion and has been given a Physics Synopsis. The story has been picked up by dozens of news outlets including a top story at Futurity.org, as well as R&D Magazine, The Huffington Post, phys.org and The Register. The story also has been broadcast on the Prism at Voice of Russia Radio.
• Our holographic microrefractometer made the cover of Applied Physics Letters. See the August 27, 2012 issue.
• Optics Express announced that our article demonstrating practical tractor beams is among their most downloaded articles.
• Soft Matter has selected our article on holographic porosimetry as a Hot Article. Read it for free until August 31, 2011.
• Our article on knotted optical force fields is the subject of a press release by the Optical Society of America, and another press release by NYU. The story has been picked up by several dozen news aggregators.
• Holographic streak velocimetry has been reprinted in the Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics . See volume 6, issue 3 (March 18, 2011).
• Our Physical Review E article on prismatic optical fractionation has been reprinted in the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research. See volume 20, issue 11 (December 1, 2010).
• Our Optics Express article on holographic particle tracking has been reprinted in the Virtual Journal of Biomedical Optics. See volume 5, issue 11 (August 25, 2010).
• Our Optics Express article on solenoid beams has been reprinted in the Virtual Journal of Biomedical Optics. See volume 5, issue 7 (April 26, 2010).
• See the Nature News and Views article that Mark Dykman wrote about our Rapid Communication on Brownian Vortexes: M. I. Dykman, Nature 461, 1226 (2009). "Brownian vortexes" also was reprinted in the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research. See the July 15, 2009 edition. Figure 1 also was selected as a Kaleidoscope image by Physical Review E.
• Read the article on our holographic microscopy work in the September 17, 2009 edition of The Christian Science Monitor.
• Our article on holographic flow cytometry has been selected for the inaugural issue of the OSA's Spotlight on Optics. See the July 17, 2009 edition. This story also has been picked up by Laser Focus World and BioOptics World, among more than a dozen other science news sites. It also has been reprinted in the September 4, 2009 edition of the Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics.
• See Ward Lope's article on holographic optical trapping in the July 2, 2009 issue of Optics and Photonics News
• David acts as a guest scientist in the Science Channel's series Brink (2009).
• The effect of Mie resonances on trapping in optical tweezers has been reprinted in the April 1, 2009 edition of Virtual Journal of Biomedical Optics
• Our Theory of Holographic Trapping has been selected for the October, 2008 edition of the Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics.
• Our PRL on the fountain of probability has been selected for the October 15, 2008 edition of the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.
• Our article on ultra-efficient colloidal interaction measurements has been picked up for the May 15, 2008 issue of the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.
• Nature Physics also reviews our PRL on optical phase-gradient forces in its Research Highlights section.
• See the Academy eBriefing written by Don Monroe for The New York Academy of Sciences, posted Jan. 9, 2008.
• Our PRL on optical phase-gradient forces has been picked up for the January 15, 2008 edition of the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.
• The Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research has reprinted our Optics Express article on holographic microscopy. See the March 1, 2007 edition.
• The Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research has reprinted our Physical Review E article on the selectivity of sorting by optical fractionation. See the February 1, 2007 edition.
• The Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research has reprinted our Physical Review Letter on giant enhancement of the diffusivity of a Brownian particle rolling down a rough hill. See the June 1, 2006 edition.
• The Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research has reprinted our Physical Review Letter on anomalous dispersion of elastic waves in a purely dissipative medium. See the March 15, 2006 edition.
• Our demonstration of holographic assembly of semiconductor nanowires was written up as a New & Analysis cover story in the January 2006 issue of Photonics Spectra
• Hot Diggity! David Grier and Arryx are mentioned in Nanotechnology for Dummies.
• Paul Hanlon reviewed our article on holographically assembled colloidal quasicrystals in the July 21, 2005 issue of Nature Physics. This story also has been picked up by PhysOrg.org, Nano Tsunami, Science News Daily, Small Times, The Washington Times among several other sites.
• Our PRE Rapid Communication on two-state optical thermal ratchets has been reprinted in the July 1, 2005 issue of the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research
• Our PRL on optical thermal ratchets has been reprinted in the April 1, 2005 issue of the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research
• The Science Coalition features results from the new Center for Soft Matter Research on its Researcher in the News section, March 7 (2005).
• The World Economic Forum has selected Arryx as one of its Technology Pioneers for 2005. The story by Mark Halper in the December 13, 2004 issue of Time Magazine Europe includes a nifty picture of David. The same story appeared in the January 31, 2005 edition of Time Magazine.
• Arryx has been named one of the Red Herring Top 100 Innovative Companies for 2005. Read the story here
• The Chronicle of Higher Education has a story on the group's move to NYU.
• Our Rapid Communication on optical fractionation has been reprinted in the August 2, 2004 issue of the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Technology. It also was reprinted in the August 1, 2004 issue of the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research
• Physorg.com has a story about our paper on quantum dot fluorescence (July 15, 2004). Also see the story at EE Times, Innovations Report, Nanotechwire, Science Blog, and at Science Daily. Sandra Guy of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote this article for the August 18, 2004 issue. It also made the cover of the August 2004 III-Vs Review.
• See the article by Celeste Biever in the June 4, 2004 issue of New Scientist on our HOT carbon nanotube paper. This story also was picked up in the July 12 issue of Technology Review. This story also is the Nanopicture of the Day for January 28, 2005.
• Our PRL on statistically locked-in transport was reprinted in the April 15, 2004 edition of the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.
• Charles Choi of UPI has an article on our HOT nanotube processing in The Washington Times (March 3, 2004).
• The AIP cites our work on optical fractionation as one of the most noteworthy physics stories of 2003. Follow their link to story 627.
• David Grier is named one of the Scientific American 50 for 2003. See the December 2003 issue of Scientific American for details.
• See our Nanopicture of the Day for November 3, 2003.
• Hear Peter Evans' interview with David Grier and others on the October 29, 2003 Scientific Frontiers program on BBC Radio 4.
• Jennifer Oulette has written about our techniques for organizing and driving microfluidic devices with light in the August issue of The Industrial Physicist 9, 14-17 (2003).
• Bruce Schechter provides a nice overview of our work in the August 9 New Scientist 179, 34-37 (2003).
• Gary Stix of Scientific American has written an Innovations article on HOT technology in the August 2003 issue. For those with online subscriptions, here's the link.
• There's a brief story on our optical vortex work in The Futurist.
• The Dallas Morning News ran this story about holographic optical tweezers in microfluidics on June 16, 2003 (free registration required).
• The June 9, 2003 Virtual Journal of Nanoscience & Technology reprinted our article on optical peristalsis.
• Physics News Update Number 639 (May 30, 2003) ran a story on optical peristalsis
• Sandra Guy from the Chicago Sun-Times ran this story about HOTs on May 28, 2003.
• The April 28, 2003 BusinessWeek has a story on our optical vortex research ("A quantum feat: Up and down at the same time," p. 65)
• The June issue of Popular Mechanics has a brief Technology Watch piece on our HOT research ("Molding molecules with light," p. 19)
• Small Times has a story on our optical vortex research.
• Another story on our optical vortices appeared in the April 11, 2003 techextreme.com
• Our optical vortex work also was reprinted in the April 14 issue of the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology as well as in the April 15 issue of the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.
• Celeste Biever from New Scientist wrote an article on our optical vortex work: New Scientist 178, 21 (2003).
• See the New York Times article about Arryx. (Free registration required)
• Our work was featured in a press release by the American Physical Society at the 2003 March Meeting in Austin Texas.
  This release also was picked up by the April 2003 Photonics Spectra.
• Optics Communications lists "Dynamic Holographic Optical Tweezers" as their most-often downloaded article.
• http://optics.org/ has a story on the same article.
• Physical Review Focus ran a story on our article related to optical fractionation.
• The Chicago Tribune has run several stories on this project. Here's one of them.
• OE Magazine ran an eye on technology article on our collaboration with Arryx Inc.

Contact Information

David G. Grier             Department of Physics
                           Center for Soft Matter Research
(212) 998-3713 (voice)     New York University
(212) 995-4016 (FAX)       726 Broadway
david.grier@nyu.edu        New York, NY 10003