Article abstract
Nature Photonics 2, 365 - 370 (2008)
Published online: 11 May 2008 | doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.78
Subject Categories: Nanophotonics | Plasmonics
Nanometric optical tweezers based on nanostructured substrates
A. N. Grigorenko1, N. W. Roberts1, M. R. Dickinson1 & Y. Zhang1
Abstract
The ability to control the position of a mesoscopic object with nanometric precision is important for the rapid progress of nanoscience. One of the most promising tools to achieve such control is optical tweezers, which trap objects near the focus of a laser beam. However, the drawbacks of conventional tweezers include a trapping volume that is diffraction-limited and significant brownian motion of trapped nanoobjects. Here, we report the first experimental realization of three-dimensional nanometric optical tweezers that are based on nanostructured substrates. Using electromagnetically coupled pairs of gold nanodots in a standard optical tweezers set-up, we create an array of subwavelength plasmonic optical traps that offer a significant increase in trapping efficiency. The nanodot optical near-fields reduce the trapping volume beyond the diffraction limit and quench brownian motion of the trapped nanoparticles by almost an order of magnitude as compared to conventional tweezers operating under the same trapping conditions. Our tweezers achieve nanoscale control of entities at significantly smaller laser powers and open new avenues for nanomanipulation of fragile biological objects.
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Correspondence to: A. N. Grigorenko1 e-mail: sasha@manchester.ac.uk
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Plasmonics Finer optical tweezersNature Photonics News and Views (01 Jun 2008)
Optical tweezers Gold standardNature Nanotechnology News and Views (01 Jun 2008)
See all 7 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Tunable nanowire nonlinear optical probeNature Letters to Editor (28 Jun 2007)
Subwavelength direct-write nanopatterning using optically trapped microspheresNature Nanotechnology Letter (01 Jul 2008)
See all 54 matches for Research
