Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 28, 2025

09:29
Utilization of Plasmonic and Photonic Crystal Nanostructures for Enhanced Micro- and Nanoparticle Manipulation
Published on: September 27, 2011
12.4K
Temperature mediated 'photonic hook' nanoparticle manipulator with pulsed illumination
Marat Spector1, Angeleene S Ang1, Oleg V Minin2,3
1School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva 8410501 Israel alinak@bgu.ac.il maratspector@gmail.com.
Nanoscale Advances
|September 22, 2022
Summary
Researchers amplified optical forces from photonic hooks using pulsed light and temperature effects. This breakthrough enhances non-destructive manipulation of nanoparticles, especially in low-contrast environments.
Area of Science:
- Optics and Photonics
- Nanotechnology
- Biophysics
Background:
- Optical forces enable non-destructive manipulation of microscopic objects and cells.
- Photonic hooks offer curved optical forces but are weak in low-contrast media.
- Existing methods like optical tweezers and atomic traps have limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To amplify optical forces generated by photonic hooks.
- To investigate the use of pulsed illumination and temperature effects for force amplification.
- To enhance nanoparticle manipulation in challenging environments.
Main Methods:
- Utilized pulsed illumination (Gaussian pulse) to generate photonic hooks.
- Investigated temperature effects on optical force amplification.
- Analyzed the interaction of photonic hooks with gold nanoparticles.
Main Results:
- Pulsed illumination significantly amplified photonic hook optical forces compared to continuous waves.
- Gold nanoparticles experienced a lattice temperature increase of ~2-4 K.
- Achieved high index resolution through temperature-mediated effects.
Conclusions:
- Pulsed illumination and temperature effects effectively amplify photonic hook forces.
- This method holds promise for controllable nanoparticle manipulation.
- Findings are crucial for applications in low-contrast environments like drug delivery and cellular studies.

