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Updated: May 11, 2026

Optical Trapping of Nanoparticles
Published on: January 15, 2013
Through nanohole formation in thin metallic film by single nanosecond laser pulses using optical dielectric
Y N Kulchin1, O B Vitrik, A A Kuchmizhak
1Institute of Automation and Control Processes, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Vladivostok 690041, Russia.
Abstract:
Separate nanoholes with the minimum size down to 35 nm (~λ/15) and nanohole arrays with the hole size about 100 nm (~λ/5) were fabricated in a 50 nm optically "thick" Au/Pd film, using single 532 nm pump nanosecond laser pulses focused to diffraction-limited spots by a specially designed apertureless dielectric fiber probe. Nanohole fabrication in the metallic film was found to result from lateral heat diffusion and center-symmetrical lateral expulsion of the melt by its vapor recoil pressure. The optimized apertureless dielectric microprobe was demonstrated to enable laser fabrication of deep through nanoholes.

