Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




NANO TECH
Optical nano-tweezers take over the control of nano-objects
by Staff Writers
Barcelona, Spain (SPX) Mar 06, 2014


The image on the left is an electron beam microscopy image of the extremity of the plasmon nano-tweezers. The image on the right is a sketch illustrating the trapping of a nanoparticle in the bowtie aperture. Image courtesy Institute of Photonic Sciences.

As science and technology go nano, scientists search for new tools to manipulate, observe and modify the "building blocks" of matter at the nanometer scale. With this in mind, the recent publication in Nature Nanotechnology in which ICFO researchers demonstrate for the first time the ability to use near-field optical tweezers to trap a nano-size object and manipulate it in the 3 dimensions of space, is an exciting achievement.

Romain Quidant, ICREA Professor and leader at ICFO of the Plasmon Nano-Optics research group comments that "this technique could revolutionize the field of nanoscience since, for the first time, we have shown that it is possible to trap, 3D manipulate and release a single nano-object without exerting any mechanical contact or other invasive action".

Imagine an elephant trying to grab an object the size of a needle with its gigantic hoof? Clearly this would be a tremendous if not impossible challenge because of the elephant's enormous size in comparison to that of the needle.

Now imagine that our needle is a single molecule or tiny object about the size of a few nanometers and we, with our conventional tools, need to trap it and manipulate it in in order to, for example, understand its implication in the development of a disease. We have the same problem, first because a conventional optical microscope is not capable of visualizing a single molecule and second, because the physical limitations of our conventional tweezers are simply not capable of grasping or manipulating such small objects.

Invented in Bell Labs in the 80's, the original optical trapping demonstrated great capability to trap and manipulate small objects of micrometer size dimensions using laser light. By shining a laser light through a lens, it is possible to focus light in a tiny spot, creating an attractive force due to the gradient of the light intensity of the laser and thus attracting an object/specimen and maintaining it in the spot/focus.

While Optical tweezers have changed forever the fields of both biology and quantum optics, the technique has considerable limitations, one of which being its inability to directly trap objects smaller than a few hundreds of nanometers. This drawback prompted the pursuit of new approaches of nano-tweezers based on plasmonics, capable of trapping nano-scale objects such as proteins or nanoparticles without overheating and damaging the specimen.

A few years ago, ICFO researchers demonstrated that, by focusing light on a very small gold nano-structure lying on a glass surface which acts as a nano-lens, one can trap a specimen at the vicinity of the metal where the light is concentrated. This proof of concept was limited to demonstrate the mechanism but did not enable any 3D manipulation needed for practical applications.

Now researchers at ICFO have taken this a crucial step further by implementing the concept of plasmonic nano-tweezers at the extremity of a mobile optical fiber, nano-engineered with a bowtie-like gold aperture. Using this approach, they have demonstrated trapping and 3D displacement of specimens as small as a few tens of nanometers using an extremely small, non-invasive laser intensity.

Central to the great potential of this technique is that both trapping and monitoring of the trapped specimen can be done through the optical fiber, performing the manipulation of nano-objects in a simple and manageable way outside of the physics research lab.

This technique opens a plethora of new research directions requiring non-invasive manipulation of objects at the single molecule/virus level. It is potentially attractive in the field of medicine as a tool to further understand the biological mechanisms behind the development of diseases. Likewise, it holds promise in the context of nanotechnologies to assemble future miniature devices, among other exciting potential applications.

J. Berthelot, S. S. Acimovic, M. L. Juan, M. P. Kreuzer, J. Renger and R. Quidant, Three-dimensional manipulation with scanning near-field optical nanotweezers, DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2014.24

.


Related Links
ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences
Nano Technology News From SpaceMart.com
Computer Chip Architecture, Technology and Manufacture






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





NANO TECH
NIST microanalysis technique makes the most of small nanoparticle samples
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 04, 2014
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have demonstrated that they can make sensitive chemical analyses of minute samples of nanoparticles by, essentially, roasting them on top of a quartz crystal. The NIST-developed technique, "microscale thermogravimetric analysis," holds promise for studying nanomaterials in biolog ... read more


NANO TECH
Control circuit malfunction troubles China's Yutu

China's Lunar Lander Still Operational

China Focus: Uneasy rest begins for China's troubled Yutu rover

Is Yutu Stuck?

NANO TECH
Robotic Arm Crushes Rock for Study

Relay Radio on Mars-Bound NASA Craft Passes Checkout

Mars Rover Oppportunity Crushing Rocks With Wheels

NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Views Striated Ground

NANO TECH
Committee Democrats Emphasize Need for Human Space Exploration Roadmap

NASA Commercial Crew Partners Complete Space System Milestones

Bright pulses of light could make space veggies more nutritious

Last Shuttle Commander Virtually Flies Boeing CST-100 to ISS

NANO TECH
China expects to launch cargo ship into space around 2016

China capable of exploring Mars

Feature: The "masters" behind China's lunar rover Jade Rabbit

Preparation for Chang'e-5 launch on schedule

NANO TECH
NASA says US-Russia space ties 'normal'

Cancer Targeted Treatments from Space Station Discoveries

Cosmonauts on space station to turn teacher for Russian students

Space suit leak happened before, NASA admits

NANO TECH
Payload prep continues for Arianespace Soyuz for Sentinel-1A

Russia to Start Building New Manned Rocket Launch Pad in 2015

New Vostochny space center a key priority for Russian Far East

'Mission of Firsts' Showcased New Range-Safety Technology at NASA Wallops

NANO TECH
What Would A Rocky Exoplanet Look Like? Atmosphere Models Seek Clues

'Dimer molecules' aid study of exoplanet pressure, hunt for life

Super-Earth' may be dead worlds

Kepler Mission Announces a Planet Bonanza, 715 New Worlds

NANO TECH
ADS builds 'space furnace' to test materials of the future on the ISS

New Record Set for Data-Transfer Speeds

Ecliptic RocketCam Captures Sirius Antenna Deployment In Geo Orbit

3-D printer creates transformative device for heart treatment




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.