  Optical tweezers are widely used for the manipulation of cells and their
internal structures. However, the degree of manipulation possible is limited by
poor control over the orientation of trapped cells. We show that it is possible
to controllably align or rotate disc shaped cells - chloroplasts of Spinacia
oleracea - in a plane polarised Gaussian beam trap, using optical torques
resulting predominantly from circular polarisation induced in the transmitted
beam by the non-spherical shape of the cells.
