Plasmon resonance based optical trapping of nanoparticles

PHYS 315

Norbert F. Scherer, nfschere@uchicago.edu, Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, 929 E. 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
A new method for optical trapping of plasmonic nanoparticles is presented. A properly tuned trapping laser, shifted to the red of the plasmon resonance, creates an enhanced gradient force allowing particles only 40nm in length and 10nm in diameter to be trapped for >20min. with aligned orientations. The simultaneous trapping of multiple particles allows the study of inter-particle interactions by way of linear and nonlinear optical responses. The origin of the inter-particle forces will be discussed.