RESUMEN
Nanoparticles in aqueous solution are subject to collisions with solvent molecules, resulting in random, Brownian motion. By breaking the spatiotemporal symmetry of the system, the motion can be rectified. In nature, Brownian ratchets leverage thermal fluctuations to provide directional motion of proteins and enzymes. In man-made systems, Brownian ratchets have been used for nanoparticle sorting and manipulation. Implementations based on optical traps provide a high degree of tunability along with precise spatiotemporal control. Here, we demonstrate an optical Brownian ratchet based on the near-field traps of an asymmetrically patterned photonic crystal. The system yields over 25 times greater trap stiffness than conventional optical tweezers. Our technique opens up new possibilities for particle manipulation in a microfluidic, lab-on-chip environment.
RESUMEN
We use an optical analogue of epitaxial growth to assemble gold nanoparticles into 2D arrays. Particles are attracted to a growth template via optical forces and interact through optical binding. Competition between effects determines the final particle arrangements. We use a Monte Carlo model to design a template that favors growth of hexagonal particle arrays. We experimentally demonstrate growth of a highly stable array of 50 gold particles with 200 nm diameter, spaced by 1.1 µm.
RESUMEN
We experimentally demonstrate the technique of light-assisted, templated self-assembly (LATS) to trap and assemble 200 nm diameter gold nanoparticles. We excite a guided-resonance mode of a photonic-crystal slab with 1.55 µm laser light to create an array of optical traps. Unlike our previous demonstration of LATS with polystyrene particles, we find that the interparticle interactions play a significant role in the resulting particle patterns. Despite a two-dimensionally periodic intensity profile in the slab, the particles form one-dimensional chains whose orientations can be controlled by the incident polarization of the light. The formation of chains can be understood in terms of a competition between the gradient force due to the excitation of the mode in the slab and optical binding between particles.
RESUMEN
We experimentally demonstrate the technique of light-assisted, templated self-assembly (LATS). We excite a guided-resonance mode of a photonic-crystal slab with 1.55 µm laser light to create an array of optical traps. We demonstrate assembly of a square lattice of 520 nm diameter polystyrene particles spaced by 860 nm. Our results demonstrate how LATS can be used to fabricate reconfigurable structures with symmetries different from traditional colloidal self-assembly, which is limited by free energetic constraints.
RESUMEN
A new photonic crystal structure is generated by using a regular graphite lattice as the base and adding a slot in the center of each unit cell to enhance field confinement. The theoretical Q factor in an ideal structure is over 4 × 10(5). The structure was fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator wafer and optically characterized by transmission spectroscopy. The resonance wavelength and quality factor were measured as a function of slot height. The measured trends show good agreement with simulation.