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Thermal control at small scales is critical for studying temperature-dependent biological systems and microfluidic processes. Concerning this, optical trapping provides a contactless method to remotely study microsized heating sources. This work introduces a birefringent luminescent microparticle of NaLuF 4 :Nd 3+ as a local heater in a liquid system. When optically trapped with a circularly polarized laser beam, the microparticle rotates and heating is induced through multiphonon relaxation of the Nd 3+ ions. The temperature increment in the surrounding medium is investigated, reaching a maximum heating of ≈5 °C within a 30 µm radius around the static particle under 51 mW laser excitation at 790 nm. Surprisingly, this study reveals that the particle's rotation minimally affects the temperature distribution, contrary to the intuitive expectation of liquid stirring. The influence of the microparticle rotation on the reduction of heating transfer is analyzed. Numerical simulations confirm that the thermal distribution remains consistent regardless of spinning. Instead, the orientation-dependence of the luminescence process emerges as a key factor responsible for the reduction in heating. The anisotropy in particle absorption and the lag between the orientation of the particle and the laser polarization angle contribute to this effect. Therefore, caution must be exercised when employing spinning polarization-dependent luminescent particles for microscale thermal analysis using rotation dynamics., (© 2024 The Authors. Small published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

This is a report on a pilot study that tests the feasibility of assembling photonic metamaterials (PMs) using light gradient forces. Following a strategy that works like modular construction, light gradient forces, produced by a tightly focused, 1D standing wave optical trap, time-multiplexed across a 2D lattice are used to assemble voxels consisting of prefabricated, monodispersed nanoparticles (NPs) with radii ranging from 30 to 500 nm into 3D structures on a hydrogel scaffold. Hundreds of NPs can be manipulated concurrently into a complex heterogeneous voxel this way, and then the process can be repeated by stitching together voxels to form a metamaterial of any size, shape, and constituency although imperfectly. Imperfections introduce random phase shifts and amplitude variations that can have an adverse effect on the band structure. Regardless, PMs are created this way using two different dielectric NPs, polystyrene and rutile, and then the near-infrared performance for each is analyzed with angle-, wavelength-, and polarization-dependent reflection spectroscopy. The cross-polarized spectra show evidence of a resonance peak. Interestingly, whereas the line shape from the polystyrene array is symmetric, the rutile array is not, which may be indicative of Fano resonance. So, even with the structural defects, reflection spectroscopy reveals a resonance., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

There is a recent resurgence of interest in phage therapy (the therapeutic use of bacterial viruses) as an approach to eliminating difficult-to-treat infections. However, existing approaches for therapeutic phage selection and virulence testing are time-consuming, host-dependent, and facing reproducibility issues. Here, this study presents an innovative approach wherein integrated resonant photonic crystal (PhC) cavities in silicon are used as optical nanotweezers for probing and manipulating single bacteria and single virions with low optical power. This study demonstrates that these nanocavities differentiate between a bacterium and a phage without labeling or specific surface bioreceptors. Furthermore, by tailoring the spatial extent of the resonant optical mode in the low-index medium, phage distinction across phenotypically distinct phage families is demonstrated. The work paves the road to the implementation of optical nanotweezers in phage therapy protocols., (© 2024 The Authors. Small published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Recently, extensive research has been reported on the detection of metal nanoparticles using terahertz waves, due to their potential for efficient and nondestructive detection of chemical and biological samples without labeling. Resonant terahertz nanoantennas can be used to detect a small amount of molecules whose vibrational modes are in the terahertz frequency range with high sensitivity. However, the positioning of target molecules is critical to obtaining a reasonable signal because the field distribution is inhomogeneous over the antenna structure. Here, we combine an optical tweezing technique and terahertz spectroscopy based on nanoplasmonics, resulting in extensive controllable tweezing and sensitive detection at the same time. We observed optical tweezing of a gold nanoparticle and detected it with terahertz waves by using a single bowtie nanoantenna. Furthermore, the calculations confirm that molecular fingerprinting is possible by using our technique. This study will be a prestep of biomolecular detection using gold nanoparticles in terahertz spectroscopy.

Enantiomers (opposite chiral molecules) usually exhibit different effects when interacting with chiral agents, thus the identification and separation of enantiomers are of importance in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Here an optical approach is proposed to enantioselective trapping of multiple pairs of enantiomers by a focused hybrid polarized beam. Numerical results indicate that such a focused beam shows multiple local optical chirality of opposite signs in the focal plane, and can trap the corresponding enantiomers near the extreme value of optical chirality density according to the handedness of enantiomers. The number and positions of trapped enantiomers can be changed by altering the value and sign of polarization orders of hybrid polarized beams, respectively. The key to realizing enantioselective optical trapping of enantiomers is that the chiral optical force exerted on enantiomers in this focused field is stronger than the achiral optical force. The results provide insight into the optical identification and separation of multiple pairs of enantiomers and will find applications in chiral detection and sensing., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

We numerically demonstrate trapping and rotation of particles using a metasurface formed by arranging nanocavities as a right-handed Archimedes' spiral. Excited by a 90° linearly polarized beam, a focused surface plasmon polariton (SPP) field is formed at the center of the spiral, and the particle can be trapped by the field. While excited by −45° linearly polarized beams, a vortex SPP field carrying orbital angular momentum is formed, and the particles can be trapped and rotated in the clockwise direction at the vortex field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface plasmon excitation at a nanogap between adjacent metal nanostructures generates extremely enhanced electric field, which enables us to detect and characterize individual molecules by surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). However, versatile nanogap fabrication methods have not been established, making difficult to efficiently exploit a gap mode plasmon in practical applications such as biosensing, biomedical, and environmental analyses. Here, we describe reproducible nanogap assemblies using adjacent metal nanoparticles (MNPs) and MNPs/adsorbates/metal substrates based on the Derjaguin − Landau − Verway − Overbeek theory and irreversible optical trapping of MNPs on metal substrates. The assembled nanogaps between adjacent MNPs, here, M is Ag or Au, enabled us to characterize adsorbates such as solvent shared ion pairs of hydrated metal ions, and three distinct adsorbed states of adenine depending on pH in aqueous solutions. Also we found plasmon-induced oxidation of p-alkyl thiophenol (p-AlkTP) at the nanogap on AgNP/p-AlkTP/Ag films. This oxidation has a specific reactivity at the p-position in the p-AlkTP phenyl ring, while providing intermediate species under nitrogen atmosphere. This specific oxidation is not driven by a thermal process but by a hot carrier transfer process. Thus, the nanogap fabrication methods using adjacent metal nanostructures we developed are promising to elucidate static and dynamical nature of target molecules using SERS spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gold nanorods (NRs) with tunable plasmon-resonant absorption in the near-infrared region have considerable advantages over organic fluorophores as imaging agents due to their brightness and lack of photobleaching. However, the luminescence spectral properties of NRs have not been fully characterized at the single particle level due to lack of proper analytic tools. Here, we present a spectral phasor analysis method that allows investigations of NRs' spectra at single particle level showing the spectral variance and providing spatial information during imaging. The broad phasor distribution obtained by the spectral phasor analysis indicates that spectra of NRs are different from particle to particle. NRs with different spectra can be identified in images with high spectral resolution. The spectral behaviors of NRs under different imaging conditions, for example, different excitation powers and wavelengths, were revealed by our laser-scanning multiphoton microscope using a high-resolution spectrograph with imaging capability. Our results prove that the spectral phasor method is an easy and efficient tool in hyper-spectral imaging analysis to unravel subtle changes of the emission spectrum. We applied this method to study the spectral dynamics of NRs during direct optical trapping and by optothermal trapping. Interestingly, different spectral shifts were observed in both trapping phenomena.

We investigate the optomechanical effect on a single nano-particle inside an optical cavity, by deriving the optical forces acting on the nano-particle by the cavity from quantum theory. We obtain the steady state of the system and found that the force contains three terms associated with the gradient force, the back-action force resulting from the intra-cavity photon energy change, as well as the reactive force associated with the coupling between the external field and the cavity. Moreover, we solve the dynamical system for a dielectric particle in a small mode volume cavity, which is characterized by a quasi-periodic pattern. These results are important for understanding the control of various types of levitated nano-particles through optomechanical coupling.

Raman spectroscopy was performed on GSM 900 and 1800 MHz mobile phone signal exposed red blood cells (RBCs). The observed changes in the Raman spectra of mobile signal exposed RBCs compared to unexposed control suggest reduced hemoglobin‐oxygen affinity for the exposed cells. The possible mechanism may involve activation of the voltage gated membrane Ca2+ channels by the mobile phone emissions resulting in an increase in the levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and 2,3‐diphosphoglycerate (2,3‐DPG) in cells via altered metabolic activities. Further studies carried out with fluorescent Ca2+ indicator confirmed increased intracellular Ca2+ level in the exposed cells. Since intracellular ATP level influences the shape and mechanics of RBCs, exposed cells were studied using diffraction phase microscopy and optical tweezers. Detectable changes in shape and mechanical properties were observed due to mobile signal exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single‐particle fluorescent probes with the capacity to infer specific intracellular conditions, for instance, have great application potential in the realm of biomedicine. Imaging techniques that improve our understanding of the fluorescence processes at a single‐particle level are thus instrumental in actualizing this potential. This study demonstrates the importance of implementing synergistic single‐particle spectroscopic techniques to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the optical anisotropy exhibited by upconverting erbium and ytterbium co‐doped lithium yttrium tetrafluoride (LiYF4:Yb3+/Er3+) microparticles. More specifically, optical trapping and single‐particle polarized emission spectroscopy is herein leveraged to provide a plausible explanation for the spatial emission intensity distribution variation exhibited by LiYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ microparticles during hyperspectral imaging. By probing the polarized emission stemming from a single, optically trapped LiYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ microparticle, it is possible to find evidence that the emission intensity anisotropy exhibited by the respective microparticles during hyperspectral imaging arises as a consequence of the selection rules governing the emission probability in rare‐earth (RE3+) ions doped into a uniaxially birefringent host matrix such as LiYF4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Femtosecond (fs) laser trapping dynamics is summarized for silica, hydrophobically modified silica, and polystyrene nanoparticles (NPs) in aqueous solution, highlighting their distinct optical trapping dynamics under CW laser. Mutually repulsive silica nanoparticles are tightly confined under fs laser compared to CW laser trapping and, upon increasing laser power, they are ejected from the focus as an assembly. Hydrophobically modified silica and polystyrene (PS) NPs are sequentially ejected just like a stream or ablated, giving bubbles. The ejection and bubbling take place with the direction perpendicular to laser polarization and its direction is randomly switched from one to the other. These characteristic features are interpreted from the viewpoint of single assembly formation of NPs at an asymmetric position in the optical potential. Temporal change in optical forces map is prepared for a single PS NP by calculating scattering, gradient, and temporal forces. The relative contribution of the forces changes with the volume increase of the assembly and, when the pushing force along the trapping pulse propagation overcome the gradient in the focal plane, the assembly undergoes the ejection. Further fs multiphoton absorption is induced for the larger assembly leading to bubble generation. The assembling, ejection, and bubbling dynamics of NPs are characteristic features of pulsed optical force and are considered as a new platform for developing new material fabrication method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Optothermal bubble generation at low CW power. • 3D steady-state-trapping induced by a potential well triggered by optothermal effects. • Bubble self-oscillation in pure ethanol driven by low-power NIR optothermal effects. In this study, we focus on the trapping and self-oscillation of microbubbles in ethanol using a low-power continuous-wave laser. The microbubble formation is achieved by heating of ethanol by light absorption (λ = 658 nm) at silver nanoparticles deposited on the distal end of a multi-mode optical fiber. Subsequently, a second low-power continuous-wave laser (λ = 1,550 nm) coupled to a single-mode optical fiber is used to trap the microbubble. To trap the microbubble, the red laser is turned off after its generation, and immediately the trapping laser is activated. The bulk light absorption at λ = 1,550 nm in ethanol modulates the surface tension of the bubble wall, creating a 3D potential well that effectively traps the bubble. Once the bubble is trapped, random variations in the bubble's radius led to instabilities in the trap, triggering the microbubble oscillation. The trapped bubble tends to oscillate along the light propagation between two points of quasi-steady-state equilibrium. These bubble oscillations result from the opposing competing forces: a changing-direction Marangoni force and drag forces and the upward buoyancy force. To explain the self-oscillation, we present a simple model that qualitatively describes the main features observed in the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a new technique for manipulating silica gel particles suspended in a water-based solution using a stable mode-locked fiber laser (MDFL). We coated a side-polished fiber (SPF) with Au-NP which acts as a saturable absorber (SA). A stable MDFL was achieved at an operating wavelength of 1557.8 nm and a repetition rate of 60.8 MHz. The optical trapping of sub-micrometer-sized silica gel particles revealed remarkable characteristics of the optical force. This force was driven by the presence of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) in the Au-NP SPF, which played a crucial role in facilitating the manipulation of silica gel particles. Specifically, the SPP generated a gradient optical force, propelling the particles toward the propagation region. Throughout the optical trapping process, we observed wavelength shifts towards higher values in the spectrum, ranging from 1557.8 to 1563.1 nm. To quantify the optical force, we conducted computational and experimental analyses, yielding a force range of 0.16 to 2.10 fN. The percentage errors associated with these measurements ranged from 3.37% to 7.48%. Importantly, simulation results closely align with the experimental findings, establishing a robust foundation for future applications. [Display omitted] • A method for trapping silica gel particles in water with experimental and simulation. • The use of a stable MDFL with Au-NP SPF as a saturable absorber (SA). • Au-NP SPF MDFL trapping microparticles measured via wavelength shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have estimated the mitotic forces exerted on individual isolated mammalian chromosomes using optical trapping. The chromosomes were trapped by an optical tweezers system created by a continuous wave ytterbium laser at 1064 nm. Individual chromosomes were trapped at different in situ powers in the range of 20-50 mW. The corresponding trapping forces were determined by a viscous drag method. In the range of laser powers used, the preliminary data show a linear relationship between the chromosome trapping forces and in situ powers. We have calculated the dimensionless trapping efficiency coefficient (Q) of the chromosomes at 1064 nm and the corresponding effects of trapping power on Q. The value of Q in our experiments was determined to be ≈ 0.01. The results of this study validate optical tweezers as a non-invasive and precise technique to determine intracellular forces in general, and specifically, the spindle forces exerted on the chromosomes during cell division.

Abstract Numerical simulation plays an important role for the prediction of optical trapping based on plasmonic nano-optical tweezers. However, complicated structures and drastic local field enhancement of plasmonic effects bring great challenges to traditional numerical methods. In this article, an accurate and efficient numerical simulation method based on a dual-primal finite element tearing and interconnecting (FETI-DP) and Maxwell stress tensor is proposed, to calculate the optical force and potential for trapping nanoparticles. A low-rank sparsification approach is introduced to further improve the FETI-DP simulation performance. The proposed method can decompose a large-scale and complex problem into small-scale and simple problems by using non-overlapping domain division and flexible mesh discretization, which exhibits high efficiency and parallelizability. Numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed method for the prediction and analysis of optical trapping at nanoscale.

Abstract The characteristics of a circularly polarized anomalous vortex beam (CPAVB), focused by an objective lens with a high numerical aperture (NA), are studied analytically and theoretically. It shows that the topological charge can affect the beam profile significantly and a flat-topped (FT) beam can be obtained by modulating the NA and topological charge. It is interesting to find that spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion can occur in the longitudinal component after tight focusing. Furthermore, optical forces of the tightly focused CPAVB on nanoparticles are analyzed in detail. It can be expected to trap two kinds of nanoparticles using such beam near the focus.

Microrheology with optical tweezers (MOT) measurements are usually performed using optical traps that are close to isotropic across the plane being imaged, but little is known about what happens when this is not the case. In this work, we investigate the effect of anisotropic optical traps on microrheology measurements. This is an interesting problem from a fundamental physics perspective, but it also has practical ramifications because in 3D all optical traps are anisotropic due to the difference in the intensity distribution of the trapping laser along axes parallel and perpendicular to the direction of beam propagation. We find that attempting viscosity measurements with highly anisotropic optical traps will return spurious results, unless the axis with maximum variance in bead position is identified. However, for anisotropic traps with two axes of symmetry such as traps with an elliptical cross section, the analytical approach introduced in this work allows us to explore a wider range of time scales than those accessible with symmetric traps. We have also identified a threshold level of anisotropy in optical trap strength of ~30%, below which conventional methods using a single arbitrary axis can still be used to extract valuable microrheological results. We envisage that the outcomes of this study will have important practical ramifications on how all MOT measurements should be conducted and analyzed in future applications.

Enabled by multiple optical traps, holographic optical tweezers can manipulate multiple particles in parallel flexibly. Spatial light modulators are widely used in holographic optical tweezers, in which Gaussian point (GP) trap arrays or special mode optical trap arrays including optical vortex (OV) arrays, perfect vortex (PV) arrays, and Airy beam arrays, etc., can be generated by addressing various phase holograms. However, the optical traps in these arrays are almost all of the same type. Here, we propose a new method for generating a hybrid optical trap array (HOTA), where optical traps such as GPs, OVs, PVs, and Airy beams in the focal plane are combined arbitrarily. Also, the axial position and peak intensity of each them can be adjusted independently. The energy efficiency of this method is theoretically studied, while different micro-manipulations on multiple particles have been realized with the support of HOTA experimentally. The proposed method expands holographic optical tweezers’ capabilities and provides a new possibility of multi-functional optical micro-manipulation.

Wavefront shaping through a multi-core fiber (MCF) is turning into an attractive method for endoscopic imaging and optical cell-manipulation on a chip. However, the discrete distribution and the low number of cores induce pixelated phase modulation, becoming an obstacle for delivering complex light field distributions through MCFs. We demonstrate a novel phase retrieval algorithm named Core–Gerchberg–Saxton (Core-GS) employing the captured core distribution map to retrieve tailored modulation hologram for the targeted intensity distribution at the distal far-field. Complex light fields are reconstructed through MCFs with high fidelity up to 96.2%. Closed-loop control with experimental feedback denotes the capability of the Core-GS algorithm for precise intensity manipulation of the reconstructed light field. Core-GS provides a robust way for wavefront shaping through MCFs; it facilitates the MCF becoming a vital waveguide in endoscopic and lab-on-a-chip applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the generation of an optical vortex array dubbed the flower‐shaped optical vortex array (FOVA) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated using a single optical path interference method. FOVA is generated by the superposition of even and odd Ince–Gaussian (IG) beams, which have the same degree m and different order p. The number of optical vortices (OVs) in the FOVA is determined based on the values of order p and degree m of the even and odd IG beams. Furthermore, the positive sign of the OVs in the array can be transformed to negative by adding a specific initial phase difference. The OVs vanish and then recover as the initial phase difference increases from 0 to 2π. Moreover, the gradient force and energy flow distribution of the FOVA are studied. The OVA with flower‐shaped structure generated herein has potential significance in applications, such as microparticle manipulation and optical measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report analytical expressions for optical forces acting on particles inside waveguides. The analysis builds on our previously reported Fourier Transform method to obtain Beam Shape Coefficients for any beam. Here we develop analytical expressions for the Beam Shape Coefficients in cylindrical and rectangular metallic waveguides. The theory is valid for particle radius a ranging from the Rayleigh regime to large microparticles, such as aerosols like virus loaded droplets. The theory is used to investigate how optical forces within hollow waveguides can be used to sort particles in “optical chromatography” experiments in which particles are optically propelled along a hollow-core waveguide. For Rayleigh particles, the axial force is found to scale with a6, while the radial force, which prevents particles from crashing into the waveguide walls, scales with a3. For microparticles, narrow Mie resonances create a strong wavelength dependence of the optical force, enabling more selective sorting. Several beam parameters, such as power, wavelength, polarization state and waveguide modes can be tuned to optimize the sorting performance. The analysis focuses on cylindrical waveguides, where meter-long liquid waveguides in the form of hollow-core photonic crystal fibers are readily available. The modes of such fibers are well-approximated by the cylindrical waveguide modes considered in the theory.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathies (HCMs) are the leading cause of acute cardiac failure in young individuals. Over 300 mutations throughout β-cardiac myosin, including in the motor domain, are associated with HCM. A β-cardiac myosin motor mutation (R712L) leads to a severe form of HCM. Actin-gliding motility of R712L-myosin is inhibited, despite near-normal ATPase kinetics. By optical trapping, the working stroke of R712L-myosin was decreased 4-fold, but actin-attachment durations were normal. A prevalent hypothesis that HCM mutants are hypercontractile is thus not universal. R712 is adjacent to the binding site of the heart failure drug omecamtiv mecarbil (OM). OM suppresses the working stroke of normal β-cardiac myosin, but remarkably, OM rescues the R712L-myosin working stroke. Using a flow chamber to interrogate a single molecule during buffer exchange, we found OM rescue to be reversible. Thus, the R712L mutation uncouples lever arm rotation from ATPase activity and this inhibition is rescued by OM.

This review focuses on optical refrigeration with the anti-Stokes fluorescence of rare-earth (RE)-doped low-phonon micro- and nanocrystals. Contrary to bulk samples, where the thermal energy is contained in internal vibrational modes (phonons), the thermal energy of nanoparticles is contained in both the translational motion and internal vibrational (phonons) modes of the sample. Much theoretical and experimental research is currently devoted to the laser cooling of nanoparticles. In the majority of the related work, only the translational energy of the particles has been suppressed. In this review, the latest achievements in hybrid optical refrigeration of RE-doped low-phonon micro- and nanoparticles are presented. Hybrid cooling permits the suppression of not only the translational energy of the RE-doped particles, but also their internal vibrational phonon thermal energy. Laser cooling of nanoparticles is not a simple task. Mie resonances can be used to enhance laser cooling with the anti-Stokes fluorescence of nanoparticles made of low-phonon RE-doped solids. Laser-cooled nanoparticles is a promising tool for fundamental quantum-mechanical studies, nonequilibrium thermodynamics, and precision measurements of forces.

The highly focused laser beam is capable of confining micro-sized particle in its focus. This is widely known as optical trapping. The Janus particle is composed of two hemispheres with different refractive indexes. In a linearly polarized optical trap, the Janus particle tends to align itself to an orientation where the interface of the two hemispheres is parallel to the laser propagation as well as the polarization direction. This enables a controllable approach that rotates the trapped particle with fine accuracy and could be used in partial measurement. However, due to the complexity of the interaction of the optical field and refractive index distribution, the trapping trajectory of the Janus particle in the linearly polarized optical trap is still uncovered. In this paper, we focus on the dynamic trapping process and the steady position and orientation of the Janus particle in the optical trap from both simulation and experimental aspects. The trapping process recorded by a high speed camera coincides with the simulation result calculated using the T-matrix model, which not only reveals the trapping trajectory, but also provides a practical simulation solution for more complicated structures and trapping motions.

We have experimentally studied the stable trapping and rotation of silica microspheres using canonical vortex (CV) beam and power-exponent-phase vortex (PEPV) beam. Numerical simulation was carried out to characterize the focusing property of these two types of beams. The dynamics of the microspheres in the two types of beams with various topological charges was investigated in detail. It shows that the precise control of microspheres in one direction can be realized. Furthermore, by optical trapping and moving the microspheres in the focus of the PEPV beam, it is proven that the velocity of the microspheres does not increase with the increase in the power order of the spiral phase and constant topological charge. We demonstrate the advantages and flexibility of PEPV beam for optical trapping applications. Optical manipulation technology based on PEPV beam may be used beneficially in optical tweezers and in applications for guiding microparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When an intense 1,064-nm continuous-wave laser is tightly focused at solution surfaces, it exerts an optical force on molecules, polymers, and nanoparticles (NPs). Initially, molecules and NPs are gathered into a single assembly inside the focus, and the laser is scattered and propagated through the assembly. The expanded laser further traps them at the edge of the assembly, producing a single assembly much larger than the focus along the surface. Amino acids and inorganic ionic compounds undergo crystallization and crystal growth, polystyrene NPs form periodic arrays and disklike structures with concentric circles or hexagonal packing, and Au NPs demonstrate assembling and swarming, in which the NPs fluctuate like a group of bees. These phenomena that depend on laser polarization are called optically evolved assembling at solution surfaces, and their dynamics and mechanisms are elucidated in this review. As a promising application in materials science, the optical trapping assembly of lead halide perovskites, supramolecules, and aggregation-induced emission enhancement–active molecules is demonstrated and future directions for fundamental study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We numerically demonstrate trapping and rotation of particles using a metasurface formed by arranging nanocavities as a right-handed Archimedes' spiral. Excited by a 90° linearly polarized beam, a focused surface plasmon polariton (SPP) field is formed at the center of the spiral, and the particle can be trapped by the field. While excited by -45° linearly polarized beams, a vortex SPP field carrying orbital angular momentum is formed, and the particles can be trapped and rotated in the clockwise direction at the vortex field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical antennas are promising for optical trapping and particle manipulation, when converting light between localized energy and freely propagating radiation. Here we propose an integrated waveguide-based optical tweezer for the first time for wavefront shaping to focus the upward radiation by the antenna, which is composed of etched trenches on a waveguide. The structural parameters of the antennas are optimized to produce a quasi-Gaussian field distribution above the antenna. Moreover, the gradient distribution of the electric field generates gradient force up to tens of pN/W, which is enough to enable effective optical trapping for particles a few micrometers in diameter and particles well above the antennas, as high as about 18 μm. We believe that as a new type of optical tweezer based on photonic antennas, the proposed devices pave the way to build fully integrated photonic circuits with large-scale parallel particle manipulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the second harmonic generation (SHG) response from a single 34 nm diameter lithium niobate nanoparticle. The experimental setup involves a first beam devoted to the optical trapping of single nanoparticles, whereas a second arm involves a femtosecond laser source leading to the SHG emission from the trapped nanoparticles. SHG operation where one to three nanoparticles are present in the optical trap is first demonstrated, highlighting the transition between coherent and incoherent SHG, the latter known as hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS). With a spatial light modulator moving the optical trap in and out of the focus of the femtosecond beam, the SHG intensity is switched back and forth between a low and a high level. This controlled operation opens new avenues for nanoparticle characterization and applications in sensing or communication and information technologies and constitutes the first step in the design of active substrateless metasurfaces.

We theoretically investigate the chirality breaking and the chirality recovery in the blue-detune trapping system based on surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) involving a chiral molecule. The blue-detune trapping system is made up of a gold metal film with a periodic nanohole array. Single chiral molecule is trapped in each unit of the trapping system, which is described by two orthogonal dipoles in finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations. The structure of the blue-detune trapping system is symmetric. Due to the chiral molecule in the trapping system, the symmetry of the blue-detune system is broken or recovered by the interactions between the chiral molecule and SPPs excited by the trapping system illuminated by the incident chiral beam. At the same time, the response of the system trapping a chiral molecule shows the chiral characteristic or the achiral characteristic, which can be called the chirality recovery and the chirality breaking. These phenomena are explained by the coherent superposition of the electric fields induced by the molecule and SPPs excited by Au structure. Our proposed structure has potential applications in the chiral molecule detecting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) present in blood originate from cells of different origins such as red blood cells (RBCs), platelets and leukocytes. In patients with cancer, a small portion of EVs originate from tumour cells and their load is associated with poor clinical outcome. Identification of these tumour-derived extracellular vesicles (tdEVs) is difficult as they are outnumbered by EVs of different tissue of origin as well a large number of lipoproteins (LPs) that are in the same size range. In order to detect tdEVs from the abundant presence of other particles, single-particle techniques are necessary. Here, synchronous Rayleigh and Raman scattering is used for that purpose. This combination of light scattering techniques identifies optically trapped single particles based on Rayleigh scattering and distinguishes differences in chemical composition of particle populations based on Raman scattering. Here, we show that tdEVs can be distinguished from RBC EVs and LPs in a label-free manner and directly in suspension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Ashkin's pioneering work, optical tweezers have become an essential tool to immobilize and manipulate microscale and nanoscale objects. The use of optical tweezers is key for a variety of applications, including single-molecule spectroscopy, colloidal dynamics, tailored particle assembly, protein isolation, high-resolution surface studies, controlled investigation of biological processes, and surface-enhanced spectroscopy. In recent years, optical trapping of individual sub-100-nm objects has got the attention of the scientific community. In particular, the three-dimensional manipulation of single lanthanide-doped luminescent nanoparticles is of great interest due to the sensitivity of their luminescent properties to environmental conditions. Nevertheless, it is really challenging to trap and manipulate single lanthanide-doped nanoparticles due to the weak optical forces achieved with conventional optical trapping strategies. This limitation is caused, firstly, by the diffraction limit in the focusing of the trapping light and, secondly, by the Brownian motion of the trapped object. In this work, we summarize recent experimental approaches to increase the optical forces in the manipulation of lanthanide-doped nanoparticles, focusing our attention on their surface modification and providing a critical review of the state of the art and future prospects.

Escherichia coli and many other bacteria swim through media with the use of flagella, which are deformable helical propellers. When the viscosity of media is increased, a peculiar phenomenon can be observed in which the organism's motility appears to improve. This improvement in the cell's swimming speed has previously been explained by modified versions of resistive force theory (RFT) which accounts for the interaction between flagella and molecules associated with the viscosity increase. Using optical tweezers, we measure the swimming force of individual E. coli in solutions of varying viscosity. By using probe-free force measurements, we are able to quantitatively validate and compare RFT and proposed modifications to the theory. We find that the force produced by the flagellum remains relatively constant even when the viscosity of the medium increases by approximately two orders of magnitude, contrary to predictions of RFT and variants. We conclude that the observed swimming forces can be explained by allowing the flagella geometry to deform as the viscosity of the surrounding medium is increased.

The biophysical properties of polymer based gels, for instance the commonly used Matrigel, crucially depend on polymer concentration. Only certain polymer concentrations will produce a gel optimal for a specific purpose, for instance for organoid development. Hence, in order to design a polymer scaffold for a specific purpose, it is important to know which properties are optimal and to control the biophysical properties of the scaffold. Using optical tweezers, we perform a biophysical characterization of the biologically relevant Matrigel while systematically varying the polymer concentration. Using the focused laser beam we trace and spectrally analyze the thermal fluctuations of an inert tracer particle. From this, the visco-elastic properties of the Matrigel is quantified in a wide frequency range through scaling analysis of the frequency power spectrum as well as by calculating the complex shear modulus. The viscoelastic properties of the Matrigel are monitored over a timespan of 7 h. At all concentrations, the Matrigel is found to be more fluid-like just after formation and to become more solid-like during time, settling to a constant state after 1–3 h. Also, the Matrigel is found to display increasingly more solid-like properties with increasing polymer concentration. To demonstrate the biological relevance of these results, we expand pancreatic organoids in Matrigel solutions with the same polymer concentration range and demonstrate how the polymer concentration influences organoid development. In addition to providing quantitative information about how polymer gels change visco-elastic properties as a function of polymer concentration and time, these results also serve to guide the search of novel matrices relevant for organoid development or 3D cell culturing, and to ensure reproducibility of bio-relevant Matrigels.