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Focused plasmonic trapping of metallic particles

Author

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  • Changjun Min

    (Institute of Modern Optics, Key Laboratory of Optical Information Science and Technology, Ministry of Education of China, Nankai University)

  • Zhe Shen

    (Institute of Modern Optics, Key Laboratory of Optical Information Science and Technology, Ministry of Education of China, Nankai University
    University of Liverpool)

  • Junfeng Shen

    (Institute of Modern Optics, Key Laboratory of Optical Information Science and Technology, Ministry of Education of China, Nankai University)

  • Yuquan Zhang

    (Institute of Modern Optics, Key Laboratory of Optical Information Science and Technology, Ministry of Education of China, Nankai University)

  • Hui Fang

    (Institute of Modern Optics, Key Laboratory of Optical Information Science and Technology, Ministry of Education of China, Nankai University)

  • Guanghui Yuan

    (School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University)

  • Luping Du

    (School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University)

  • Siwei Zhu

    (Nankai University Affiliated Hospital)

  • Ting Lei

    (Institute of Micro and Nano Optics, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University)

  • Xiaocong Yuan

    (Institute of Micro and Nano Optics, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University)

Abstract

Scattering forces in focused light beams push away metallic particles. Thus, trapping metallic particles with conventional optical tweezers, especially those of Mie particle size, is difficult. Here we investigate a mechanism by which metallic particles are attracted and trapped by plasmonic tweezers when surface plasmons are excited and focused by a radially polarized beam in a high-numerical-aperture microscopic configuration. This contrasts the repulsion exerted in optical tweezers with the same configuration. We believe that different types of forces exerted on particles are responsible for this contrary trapping behaviour. Further, trapping with plasmonic tweezers is found not to be due to a gradient force balancing an opposing scattering force but results from the sum of both gradient and scattering forces acting in the same direction established by the strong coupling between the metallic particle and the highly focused plasmonic field. Theoretical analysis and simulations yield good agreement with experimental results.

Suggested Citation

  • Changjun Min & Zhe Shen & Junfeng Shen & Yuquan Zhang & Hui Fang & Guanghui Yuan & Luping Du & Siwei Zhu & Ting Lei & Xiaocong Yuan, 2013. "Focused plasmonic trapping of metallic particles," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3891
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3891
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    Cited by:

    1. Yuquan Zhang & Haixiang Ma & Zhendong Ju & Xusheng Chen & Yixuan Chen & Xi Xie & Luping Du & Changjun Min & Xiaocong Yuan, 2026. "Structureless excitation and manipulation of dynamic holographic plasmonic slides," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 17(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Wenhao Fu & Huanyu Chi & Xin Dai & Hongni Zhu & Vince St. Dollente Mesias & Wei Liu & Jinqing Huang, 2023. "Efficient optical plasmonic tweezer-controlled single-molecule SERS characterization of pH-dependent amylin species in aqueous milieus," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Zilong Zhang & Yuqi Wang & Lianghaoyue Zhang & Hongzhi Yang & Suyi Zhao & Xiangyang Pan & Wei He & Yunfei Ma & Lingyu Kong & Lin Xiao & Changming Zhao, 2025. "Defective states of Hermite-Gaussian modes for long-distance image transmission and high-capacity encoding," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Jin Qin & Xiaofei Wu & Anke Krueger & Bert Hecht, 2025. "Light-driven plasmonic microrobot for nanoparticle manipulation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, December.

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