Abstract
Plasmonic optical tweezers can overcome the diffraction limits of conventional optical tweezers and enable the trapping of nanoscale objects. Extension of the trapping and manipulation of nanoscale objects with nanometer position precision opens up unprecedented opportunities for applications in the fields of biology, chemistry and statistical and atomic physics. Potential applications include direct molecular manipulation, lab-on-a-chip applications for viruses and vesicles and the study of nanoscale transport. This paper reviews the recent research progress and development bottlenecks and provides an overview of possible future directions in this field.
Highlights
Light or electromagnetic fields have linear momentum, and the transfer of this momentum to an object can result in the production of radiation forces
For conventional optical tweezers based on the far-field technique with optical lens or microscope objectives, the spatial confinement of the light field is inevitably limited by diffraction
We focus our discussion on recent progress in the field of plasmonic optical tweezers (POT)
Summary
Light or electromagnetic fields have linear momentum, and the transfer of this momentum to an object can result in the production of radiation forces. For conventional optical tweezers based on the far-field technique with optical lens or microscope objectives, the spatial confinement of the light field is inevitably limited by diffraction. To overcome the diffraction limitations, near-field optical manipulation techniques that use evanescent-type electromagnetic field configurations had to be introduced [12,13]. Nanoplasmonics offers the capability of light confinement well below the optical wavelength because of the existence of optical modes that are localized based on dimensions that are much smaller than the optical wavelength These modes are called surface plasmons, and they are essentially the eigenmodes of collective electronic oscillations. For noble metals, such as gold, silver and aluminum, the maximum value of Q ranges from 10 up to 100
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
