Optical Trapping and Positioning of Silicon Nanowires via Photonic Nozzling

We have improved the maximum two-dimensional translation rate of optically tweezed silicon nanowires to 30 μm/s while lowering the power usage by an order of magnitude from the ∼100 mW range to 6 mW using a silicon film substrate at 532 nm laser wavelength. We then explain the mechanism for the enhanced tweezing using finite difference time domain simulation as "waveguide nozzling" of the incident radiation, directing the light underneath the nanowire where it is confined and forced to propagate opposite to the direction of nanowire motion. We then demonstrate the robust and deterministic placement of the nanowires on the Si film surface using a nanosecond laser at the same wavelength.