engleski

Rotating nanoparticles with optical forces –nanotechnology with a twist

Optical forces are currently at the forefront of research in nanotechnology, dealing with the manipulation of particles, cells or atoms in a contact-less manner using light, with future applications in nanomedicine, nanofactories, sensing and security. In this project we investigate the optical forces and torques on nanoparticles having the exotic material property of permittivity-near-zero (working at the materials plasma frequency). Electric field lines flow around small permittivity-near-zero materials in an analogous fashion to irrotational fluid flow around solid objects, hence we expect the particles illuminated by light to experience forces and torques greatly depending on their shapes and orientations. This approach to forces on small particles is very different from existing models which are typically based on electric and magnetic polarizabilities, opening up new avenues of research. We hope to uncover novel effects as well as the possibility to control plasmonic nanoparticles by inducing a rotation on them.

ENZ ; optical forces ; electromagnetic ; nanoparticles

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