Optical assembling dynamics of individual polymer nanospheres investigated by single-particle fluorescence detection

When a laser beam is focused into colloidal nanoparticle suspensions, a number of nanoparticles can be confined in the focal spot due to an optical gradient force. To reveal the assembling dynamics of polymer nanoparticles, the assembling process was investigated by analyzing the time evolution of the fluorescence intensity of the nanoparticles. In a dilute suspension of 100-nm-sized particles, a stepwise increase of the fluorescence intensity corresponding to a trapped single nanoparticle was observed. Statistical analysis revealed that the initial assembling rate of nanoparticles was proportional to the laser power and concentration of particle suspensions as expected from the diffusion equation. In 40-nm-sized particle suspensions, blinking profiles of fluorescence intensity were obtained, in which 2-3 particles were simultaneously trapped and then escaped from the focal point. It is considered from statistical analyses and two-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations that this assembling phenomenon is attributable to cluster formation assisted by optical trapping.