Optically assisted trapping with high-permittivity dielectric rings: Towards optical aerosol filtration

Journal Article · Tue Oct 04 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4963862· OSTI ID:1328305

Alaee, Rasoul ^[1]; Kadic, Muamer ^[2]; Rockstuhl, Carsten ^[3]; Passian, Ali ^[4]

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1. Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology (KIT) (Germany). Inst. of Theoretical Solid State Physics; Max Planck Inst. for the Science of Light, Erlangen (Germany)
2. Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology (Germany) Inst. of Applied Physics; Institut FEMTO-ST, Univ. de Bourgogne Franche-Comte (France). National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)
3. Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology (KIT) (Germany). Inst. of Theoretical Solid State Physics; Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology, (Germany). Inst. of Nanotechnology
4. Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6123, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1200, USA

Controlling the transport, trapping, and filtering of nanoparticles is important for many applications. By virtue of their weak response to gravity and their thermal motion, various physical mechanisms can be exploited for such operations on nanoparticles. However, the manipulation based on optical forces is potentially most appealing since it constitutes a highly deterministic approach. Plasmonic nanostructures have been suggested for this purpose, but they possess the disadvantages of locally generating heat and trapping the nanoparticles directly on the surface. Here, we propose the use of dielectric rings made of high permittivity materials for trapping nanoparticles. Thanks to their ability to strongly localize the field in space, nanoparticles can be trapped without contact. We use a semianalytical method to study the ability of these rings to trap nanoparticles. Lastly, the results are supported by full-wave simulations and application of the trapping concept to nanoparticle filtration is suggested.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1328305
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1420532
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 14; ISSN 0003-6951
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics (AIP)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY