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09:29
Utilization of Plasmonic and Photonic Crystal Nanostructures for Enhanced Micro- and Nanoparticle Manipulation
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Mirror-Enhanced Plasmonic Nanoaperture for Ultrahigh Optical Force Generation with Minimal Heat Generation.
Theodore Anyika1,2, Ikjun Hong1,2, Justus C Ndukaife1,2,3
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, United States.
Nano Letters
|November 21, 2023
Summary
A new reflector design for Double Nanohole Plasmonic Tweezers (DNH) allows on-resonance operation, enhancing particle trapping and light-matter interactions while minimizing heat. This breakthrough improves applications like SERS and plasmon-enhanced imaging.
Area of Science:
- Nanophotonics
- Plasmonics
- Optical Tweezers
Background:
- Double Nanohole Plasmonic Tweezers (DNH) enable sub-wavelength light confinement for trapping nanoscale particles.
- Conventional DNH tweezers operate off-resonance to avoid plasmonic heating, limiting optical forces and field enhancements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel DNH design with a reflector layer for on-resonance illumination.
- To minimize plasmonic heating while enhancing optical forces and field confinement.
- To demonstrate improved trapping of nanoscale particles and light-matter interactions.
Main Methods:
- Development of a Double Nanohole Plasmonic Tweezers (DNH) design incorporating a reflector layer.
- On-resonance illumination strategy to enhance optical forces and field confinement.
- Demonstration of low-power trapping and release of small extracellular vesicles.
Main Results:
- The novel DNH design enables efficient heat dissipation and redistribution of electromagnetic hotspots.
- On-resonance operation significantly enhances optical forces and field confinement.
- Successful low-power trapping and release of small extracellular vesicles were achieved.
Conclusions:
- The reflector-enhanced DNH design overcomes limitations of off-resonance operation, enabling efficient on-resonance trapping.
- This advancement significantly enhances light-matter interactions for nanoscale applications.
- The technology holds promise for trapping-assisted Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), plasmon-enhanced imaging, and single photon emission.
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