Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 21, 2026
09:48
Construction and Operation of a Light-driven Gold Nanorod Rotary Motor System
Published on: June 30, 2018
Using optical vortex to control the chirality of twisted metal nanostructures
Kohei Toyoda1, Katsuhiko Miyamoto, Nobuyuki Aoki
1Graduate School of Advanced Integration Science, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
Nano Letters
|June 14, 2012
Summary
Scientists discovered that light can control metal nanoneedle chirality. By altering optical vortex helicity, researchers precisely engineered chiral metal nanoneedles for nanoscale applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Optics
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Chirality is a fundamental property in chemistry and biology.
- Controlling nanoscale chirality is crucial for advanced applications.
- Existing methods for creating chiral nanostructures are often complex.
Purpose of the Study:
- To discover a novel method for controlling the chirality of metal nanostructures using light.
- To investigate the transfer of optical vortex helicity to material elements.
- To enable the creation of precisely controlled chiral metal nanoneedles.
Main Methods:
- Irradiation of metal with optical vortices.
- Utilizing the helicity of light to induce chirality.
- Controlling nanoneedle formation by adjusting laser parameters.
Main Results:
- First-time demonstration of light-induced chirality in metal nanostructures (chiral metal nanoneedles).
- Chirality of nanoneedles directly controlled by the helicity sign of the optical vortex.
- Achieved precise control over nanoneedle tip curvature (<40 nm).
Conclusions:
- Developed a new technique to fabricate chiral metal nanoneedles using light.
- These nanoneedles offer nanoscale chiral selectivity for molecular analysis and imaging.
- Potential applications include nanoscale chemical reactions, advanced imaging, and metamaterials.
Related Concept Videos
02:30Chirality in Nature
Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid. The...
02:25Chirality
Chirality is a term that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in an object. In other words, chiral objects cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, our feet are chiral, as the mirror image of the left foot, the right foot, cannot be superposed on the left foot.
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
02:05Prochirality
The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...