Surface Plasmon Optical Tweezers: Tunable Optical Manipulation in the Femtonewton Range

Maurizio Righini, Giovanni Volpe, Christian Girard, Dmitri Petrov, and Romain Quidant
Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 186804 – Published 6 May 2008

Abstract

We present a quantitative analysis of 2D surface plasmon based optical tweezers able to trap microcolloids at a patterned metal surface under low laser intensity. Photonic force microscopy is used to assess the properties of surface plasmon traps, such as confinement and stiffness, revealing stable trapping with forces in the range of a few tens of femtonewtons. We also investigate the specificities of surface plasmon tweezers with respect to conventional 3D tweezers responsible for their selectivity to the trapped specimen’s size. The accurate engineering of the trapping properties through the adjustment of the illumination parameters opens new perspectives in the realization of future optically driven on-a-chip devices.

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  • Received 8 October 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.186804

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Maurizio Righini1, Giovanni Volpe1, Christian Girard2, Dmitri Petrov1,3, and Romain Quidant1,3,*

  • 1ICFO—Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Mediterranean Technology Park, 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain
  • 2CEMES, UPR-CNRS 8011, 29 rue Jeanne Marvig, 31055 Toulouse, France
  • 3ICREA—Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, 08010 Barcelona, Spain

  • *romain.quidant@icfo.es

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Vol. 100, Iss. 18 — 9 May 2008

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