Proc. SPIE 10712, doi: 10.1117/12.2319553

  • “Novel non-plasmonic optical trapping: nano-structured semiconductor assisted (NASSCA) optical tweezers.”
  • Yuki Uenobo, Tatsuya Shoji, Ayaka Mototsuji , Sawa Komoto, Tatsuya Nagai, Denver Linklater, Juodkazis Saulius, Yasuyuki Tsuboi

We have studied plasmonic optical tweezers (POT) for nanomaterials such as DNA and polymers. These nanomaterials would be efficiently trapped by a plasmon-enhanced optical force. However, plasmon excitation also leads to a photothermal effect. Such heat generation has frequently hindered POT. Recently, we have developed a novel optical trapping technique; Nano-Structured Semi-Conductor-Assisted (NASSCA) optical tweezers. In NASSCA optical tweezers, we used a metal-free black silicon with a nanoneedles structure on the surface. NASSCA optical tweezers presents a useful and powerful manipulation technique without heat generation.