Plasmon assisted optical trapping: fundamentals and biomedical applications
2015
The field of optical trapping has dramatically grown due to implementation in various arenas including physics, biology,
medicine and nanotechnology. Certainly, optical tweezers are an invaluable tool to manipulate a variation of particles,
such as small dielectric spheres, cells, bacteria, chromosomes and even genes, by highly focused laser beams through
microscope. As the main disadvantage of the conventional optical trapping systems is the diffraction limit of the incident
light, plasmon assisted nanotrapping is reported as a suitable technique for trapping sub-wavelength metallic or dielectric
particles. In this work, firstly, we report briefly on the basic theory of plasmon excitation, focusing on the interaction of
nanoscale metallic structures with laser light. Secondly, experimental and numerical simulation results are also
presented, demonstrating enhancement of the trapping efficiency of glass or SiO2 substrates, coated with Au and Ag
nanostructures, with or without nanoparticles. The optical forces were calculated by measuring the particle’s escape
velocity calibration method. Finally, representative applications of plasmon assisted optical trapping are reviewed, from
cancer therapeutics to fundamental biology and cell nanosurgery.
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