DC corral trapping of single nanoparticles and macromolecules in solution.

Progress in sorting, separating, and characterizing ever smaller amounts of chemical and biological material depends on the availability of methods for the controlled interaction with nanoscale and molecular-size objects. Here, we report on the reversible, tunable trapping of single DNA molecules and other charged micro- and nanoparticles in aqueous solution using a direct-current (DC) corral trap setup. The trap consists of a circular, non-conductive void in a metal-coated surface that, when charged, generates an electrostatic potential well in the proximate solution. Our results demonstrate that stable, nanoscale confinement of charged objects is achievable over extended periods of time, that trap stiffness is controlled by the applied voltage, and that simultaneous trapping of multiple objects is feasible. The approach shows great promise for lab-on-a-chip systems and biomedical applications due to its simplicity, scalability, selectivity, and the capability to manipulate single DNA molecules in standard buffer solutions.

Fabrication of optical tips from photonic crystal fibers.

We present a procedure for fabricating optical tips from photonic crystal fibers which feature a solid core surrounded by a cladding with a hexagonal, multilayer arrangement of air channels running along the length of the fiber. Such optical tips may have unique advantages for the production of near-field optical aperture probes (i.e., metal-coated optical tips with a subwavelength aperture at the tip apex). With both cladding and core made of pure silica, these fibers are fluorescence-free; they support only a single mode over a broad wavelength range (covering the visible and near-infrared spectrum), which makes them useful for multicolor experiments; and they exhibit zero group velocity dispersion at visible wavelengths, which opens up the possibility of femtosecond applications in the near field. Our tip fabrication procedure leads to a sharp, protruding, central tip formed exclusively from the fiber core amidst a regular arrangement of smaller tips from the inner, microstructured region of the cladding. A mechanism for tip formation is proposed based on optical observations at various stages, which explains the self-centering nature of the process.