David G. Grier is an American physicist whose research focuses on experimental soft condensed matter physics—an interdisciplinary field that includes physics, chemistry, biology, and nanotechnology, aiming to understand how objects interacting in simple ways manage to organize into sophisticated hierarchies of structure and function.
Grier is a professor in department of physics at New York University and a founding member of NYU’s Center for Soft Matter Research. Named as one of the “Top 20 Scientists Under 40” by Discover magazine in 2003, Grier served as chair of the university’s department of physics from 2005 until 2013.
Soft-matter research features close ties to industry, both because many of the most interesting soft-matter systems have immediate economic value and also because research in this field involves developing new methods and instruments for processing nanoscopic and microscopic systems. Among these is a holographic optical trapping technique, developed by Grier’s group as part of its National Science Foundation-funded basic research program, which provides the groundwork for new categories of applications in photonics, medical diagnostics, drug discovery, and environmental monitoring.[1][2] The company he founded to commercialize this technology, Arryx, Inc., was recognized with an R&D 100 Award during its first year of operation. Grier’s achievements in this field have led to his being named one of the Scientific American 50 for 2004 and one of the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers for 2005.
His laboratory’s other achievements include developing state-of-the-art methods of digital video microscopy[3] and introducing powerful new methods of holographic video microscopy.[4] Using these techniques, the Grier group has demonstrated the first practical tractor beams,[5][6] the first knotted force fields,[7] and the first optically organized micromachines.[8] The partnership of optical micromanipulation and optical characterization has revealed new principles in non-equilibrium statistical physics[9][10][11] and is responsible for the still-controversial discovery that like-charged objects sometimes can attract each other.[12][13]
Grier has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles on basic research in this area and holds more than 50 U.S. Patents on technology invented in the course of this research. His efforts have been recognized with a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship. More than a dozen of his former graduate students and postdoctoral fellows have gone on to faculty positions in major universities or leadership roles in industrial research and development.
Raised in New York City and a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, Grier attended Harvard College, where he graduated with high honors in physics. He received his doctorate in physics from the University of Michigan in 1989. After two years as a postdoctoral fellow in the Condensed Matter Physics Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories, he accepted a faculty position at the University of Chicago, where he was a member of the physics department for 12 years.
References
[edit]- ^ Dufresne, Eric R.; Grier, David G. (1998). "Optical tweezer arrays and optical substrates created with diffractive optics". Review of Scientific Instruments. 69 (5). AIP Publishing: 1974–1977. Bibcode:1998RScI...69.1974D. doi:10.1063/1.1148883. ISSN 0034-6748.
- ^ Grier, David G. (2003). "A revolution in optical manipulation". Nature. 424 (6950). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 810–816. Bibcode:2003Natur.424..810G. doi:10.1038/nature01935. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 12917694. S2CID 4388612.
- ^ Crocker, John C.; Grier, David G. (1996). "Methods of Digital Video Microscopy for Colloidal Studies". Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. 179 (1). Elsevier BV: 298–310. Bibcode:1996JCIS..179..298C. doi:10.1006/jcis.1996.0217. ISSN 0021-9797.
- ^ Lee, Sang-Hyuk; Roichman, Yohai; Yi, Gi-Ra; Kim, Shin-Hyun; Yang, Seung-Man; Blaaderen, Alfons van; Oostrum, Peter van; Grier, David G. (20 December 2007). "Characterizing and tracking single colloidal particles with video holographic microscopy". Optics Express. 15 (26). The Optical Society: 18275–18282. arXiv:0712.1738. Bibcode:2007OExpr..1518275L. doi:10.1364/oe.15.018275. ISSN 1094-4087. PMID 19551125. S2CID 22088521.
- ^ Lee, Sang-Hyuk; Roichman, Yohai; Grier, David G. (19 March 2010). "Optical solenoid beams". Optics Express. 18 (7). The Optical Society: 6988–6993. Bibcode:2010OExpr..18.6988L. doi:10.1364/oe.18.006988. ISSN 1094-4087. PMID 20389718.
- ^ Ruffner, David B.; Grier, David G. (18 October 2012). "Optical Conveyors: A Class of Active Tractor Beams". Physical Review Letters. 109 (16). American Physical Society (APS): 163903. Bibcode:2012PhRvL.109p3903R. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.109.163903. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 23215079. S2CID 2469325.
- ^ Shanblatt, Elisabeth R.; Grier, David G. (15 March 2011). "Extended and knotted optical traps in three dimensions". Optics Express. 19 (7). The Optical Society: 5833–5838. Bibcode:2011OExpr..19.5833S. doi:10.1364/oe.19.005833. ISSN 1094-4087. PMID 21451608.
- ^ Ladavac, Kosta; Grier, David G. (22 March 2004). "Microoptomechanical pumps assembled and driven by holographic optical vortex arrays". Optics Express. 12 (6). The Optical Society: 1144–1149. arXiv:cond-mat/0402634. Bibcode:2004OExpr..12.1144L. doi:10.1364/opex.12.001144. ISSN 1094-4087. PMID 19474932. S2CID 18255607.
- ^ Sun, Bo; Lin, Jiayi; Darby, Ellis; Grosberg, Alexander Y.; Grier, David G. (8 July 2009). "Brownian vortexes". Physical Review E. 80 (1). American Physical Society (APS): 010401. Bibcode:2009PhRvE..80a0401S. doi:10.1103/physreve.80.010401. ISSN 1539-3755. PMID 19658638. S2CID 25890534.
- ^ Lee, Sang-Hyuk; Grier, David G. (16 May 2006). "Giant Colloidal Diffusivity on Corrugated Optical Vortices". Physical Review Letters. 96 (19). American Physical Society (APS): 190601. arXiv:cond-mat/0603558. Bibcode:2006PhRvL..96s0601L. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.96.190601. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 16803093. S2CID 5425435.
- ^ Korda, Pamela T.; Taylor, Michael B.; Grier, David G. (3 September 2002). "Kinetically Locked-In Colloidal Transport in an Array of Optical Tweezers". Physical Review Letters. 89 (12). American Physical Society (APS): 128301. Bibcode:2002PhRvL..89l8301K. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.89.128301. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 12225126.
- ^ Crocker, John C.; Grier, David G. (26 August 1996). "When Like Charges Attract: The Effects of Geometrical Confinement on Long-Range Colloidal Interactions". Physical Review Letters. 77 (9). American Physical Society (APS): 1897–1900. Bibcode:1996PhRvL..77.1897C. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.77.1897. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 10063199.
- ^ Larsen, Amy E.; Grier, David G. (1997). "Like-charge attractions in metastable colloidal crystallites". Nature. 385 (6613). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 230–233. Bibcode:1997Natur.385..230L. doi:10.1038/385230a0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 37571467.