Microparticle transport networks with holographic optical tweezers and cavitation bubbles

Optical transport networks for active absorbing microparticles are made with holographic optical tweezers. The particles are powered by the optical potentials that make the network and transport themselves via random vapor-propelled hops to different traps. The geometries explored for the optical traps are square lattices, circular arrays, and random arrays. The degree distribution for the connections or possible paths between the traps are localized like in the case of random networks. The average travel times across n different traps scale as n^b with exponents in the range of 2.06 and 2.31, in agreement with random walks on connected networks (upper bound ∝n³). Finally, a particle traveling the network attracts others as a result of the vapor explosions enhancing transport.