Optofluidic taming of a colloidal dimer with a silicon nanocavity

Journal Article · Mon Oct 27 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4900925· OSTI ID:22310642

Pin, C.; Renaut, C. ^[1]; Fornel, F. de ^[1]; Peyrade, D. ^[2]; Picard, E.; Hadji, E. ^[3]

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1. Groupe d'Optique de Champ Proche - LRC CEA n°DSM-08-36, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne, UMR CNRS n°6303- Université de Bourgogne, Dijon (France)
2. University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CEA-Leti Minatec, LTM, F-38054 Grenoble Cedex (France)
3. University Grenoble Alpes, INAC-SP2M-SINAPS, F-38000 Grenoble, France and CEA, INAC-SP2M-SINAPS, F-38000 Grenoble (France)

We report here the optical trapping of a heterogeneous colloidal dimer above a photonic crystal nanocavity used as an on-chip optical tweezer. The trapped dimer consists of a cluster of two dielectric microbeads of different sizes linked by van der Waals forces. The smallest bead, 1 μm in diameter, is observed to be preferentially trapped by the nanotweezer, leaving the second bead untrapped. The rotational nature of the trapped dimer Brownian motion is first evidenced. Then, in the presence of a fluid flow, control of its orientation and rotation is achieved. The whole system is found to show high rotational degrees of freedom, thereby acting as an effective flow-sensitive microscopic optical ball joint.

• OSTI ID: 22310642
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 17; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
BROWNIAN MOVEMENT
CAVITIES
CRYSTALS
DEGREES OF FREEDOM
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
DIMERS
FLUID FLOW
NANOSTRUCTURES
ROTATION
SILICON
TAMOXIFEN
TRAPPING
VAN DER WAALS FORCES