Nano-engineering by optically directed self-assembly.

Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/974889· OSTI ID:974889

Furst, Eric ^[1]; Dunn, Elissa ^[2]; Park, Jin-Gyu ^[2]; Brinker, C Jeffrey; Sainis, Sunil ^[2]; Merrill, Jason ^[2]; Dufresne, Eric ^[2]; Reichert, Matthew D; Brotherton, Christopher M; Bogart, Katherine Huderle Andersen; Molecke, Ryan A; Koehler, Timothy P; Bell, Nelson Simmons; Grillet, Anne Mary; Gorby, Allen D; Singh, John ^[1]; Lele, Pushkar ^[1]; Mittal, Manish ^[1]

---

1. University of Delaware, Newark, DE
2. Yale University, New Haven, CT

Lack of robust manufacturing capabilities have limited our ability to make tailored materials with useful optical and thermal properties. For example, traditional methods such as spontaneous self-assembly of spheres cannot generate the complex structures required to produce a full bandgap photonic crystals. The goal of this work was to develop and demonstrate novel methods of directed self-assembly of nanomaterials using optical and electric fields. To achieve this aim, our work employed laser tweezers, a technology that enables non-invasive optical manipulation of particles, from glass microspheres to gold nanoparticles. Laser tweezers were used to create ordered materials with either complex crystal structures or using aspherical building blocks.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 974889
• Report Number(s): SAND2009-6163; TRN: US201008%%573
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
ELECTRIC FIELDS
GLASS
GOLD
LASERS
MANUFACTURING
MICROSPHERES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
Self-assembly.
Material Science and Metallurgy-Nanomaterials
Nanomaterials