Nanoradiator-Mediated Deterministic Opto-Thermoelectric Manipulation

• Published in: ACS nano 2018-10, Vol.12 (10), p.10383-10392
• Main Authors: Liu, Yaoran, Lin, Linhan, Bangalore Rajeeva, Bharath, Jarrett, Jeremy W, Li, Xintong, Peng, Xiaolei, Kollipara, Pavana, Yao, Kan, Akinwande, Deji, Dunn, Andrew K, Zheng, Yuebing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b05824

Optical manipulation of colloidal nanoparticles and molecules is significant in numerous fields. Opto-thermoelectric nanotweezers exploiting multiple coupling among light, heat, and electric fields enables the low-power optical trapping of nanoparticles on a plasmonic substrate. However, the management of light-to-heat conversion for the versatile and precise manipulation of nanoparticles is still elusive. Herein, we explore the opto-thermoelectric trapping at plasmonic antennas that serve as optothermal nanoradiators to achieve the low-power (∼0.08 mW/μm2) and deterministic manipulation of nanoparticles. Specifically, precise optical manipulation of nanoparticles is achieved via optical control of the subwavelength thermal hot spots. We employ a femtosecond laser beam to further improve the heat localization and the precise trapping of single ∼30 nm semiconductor quantum dots at the antennas where the plasmon–exciton coupling can be tuned. With its low-power, precise, and versatile particle control, the opto-thermoelectric manipulation can have applications in photonics, life sciences, and colloidal sciences.