Giant Enhanced Diffusion of Gold Nanoparticles in Optical Vortex Fields

We study the diffusion of a metal nanoparticle in the nonconservative force field of an optical vortex lattice. Radiation pressure in the vortex array is shown to induce a giant enhancement over the free thermal diffusion. Langevin dynamics simulations show that the diffusion coefficient of (50 nm r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2009-10, Vol.9 (10), p.3527-3531
Main Authors: Albaladejo, Silvia, Marqués, Manuel I, Scheffold, Frank, Sáenz, Juan Jose
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
Diffusion in nanoscale solids
Diffusion in solids
Exact sciences and technology
Materials science
Nanocrystalline materials
Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization
Physics
Transport properties of condensed matter (nonelectronic)
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Summary:We study the diffusion of a metal nanoparticle in the nonconservative force field of an optical vortex lattice. Radiation pressure in the vortex array is shown to induce a giant enhancement over the free thermal diffusion. Langevin dynamics simulations show that the diffusion coefficient of (50 nm radius) gold particles at room temperature is enhanced by 2 orders of magnitude at power densities of the order or smaller than those used to trap nanoparticles with optical tweezers.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/nl901745a