Abstract
Opto-thermoelectric tweezers present a new paradigm for optical trapping and manipulation of particles using low-power and simple optics. New real-life applications of opto-thermoelectric tweezers in areas such as biophysics, microfluidics, and nanomanufacturing will require them to have large-scale and high-throughput manipulation capabilities in complex environments. Here, we present opto-thermoelectric speckle tweezers, which use speckle field consisting of many randomly distributed thermal hotspots that arise from an optical speckle pattern to trap multiple particles over large areas. By further integrating the speckle tweezers with a microfluidic system, we experimentally demonstrate their application for size-based nanoparticle filtration. With their low-power operation, simplicity, and versatility, opto-thermoelectric speckle tweezers will broaden the applications of optical manipulation techniques.
Highlights
Opto-thermoelectric tweezers present a new paradigm for optical trapping and manipulation of particles using low-power and simple optics
A thermal speckle field consistthermoelectric tweezers have emerged as an alternative ing of many thermal hotspots, which can trap a large number of particles using thermoelectric forces, was generated by merging an optical speckle field with a plasmonic substrate
The output of the MM fiber was a speckle light pattern (Figure 1B) that arose from the strong interference among a large number of modes excited in the MM fiber [43, 44]
Summary
Opto-thermoelectric tweezers present a new paradigm for optical trapping and manipulation of particles using low-power and simple optics. By further integrating the speckle tweezers with a microfluidic system, we experimentally demonstrate their application for size-based nanoparticle filtration With their low-power operation, simplicity, and versatility, opto-thermoelectric speckle tweezers will broaden the applications of optical manipulation techniques. In an optical tweezers system, patterning laser beams using holographic diffractive elements [31, 32] and standing waves in free space [33, 34] or waveguides [35] has enabled large-scale and high-throughput trapping of particles over extended areas Such techniques can be extended to opto-thermoelectric tweezers, the use of sophisticated optical components or advanced fabrication tools will limit their practical applications. By controlling the balance between the thermoelectric force and drag force from localized convection flow acting on the particles in OTEST, we achieved high-throughput optical filtration
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