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Updated: Jan 20, 2026

Trapping of Micro Particles in Nanoplasmonic Optical Lattice
Published on: September 5, 2017
Dynamic optical rectification and delivery of active particles
Nick Koumakis1, Aidan T Brown1, Jochen Arlt1
1SUPA and School of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh, James Clerk Maxwell Building, Peter Guthrie Tait Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, Scotland, UK. nick.koumakis@ed.ac.uk.
Abstract:
We use moving light patterns to control the motion of Escherichia coli bacteria whose motility is photo-activated. Varying the pattern speed controls the magnitude and direction of the bacterial flux, and therefore the accumulation of cells in up- and down-stream reservoirs. We validate our results with two-dimensional simulations and a 1-dimensional analytic model, and use these to explore parameter space. We find that cell accumulation is controlled by a competition between directed flux and undirected, stochastic transport. Our results point to a number of design principles for using moving light patterns and light-activated micro-swimmers in a range of practical applications.
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