No Arabic abstract
An extended interference pattern close to surface may result in both a transmissive or evanescent surface fields for large area manipulation of trapped particles. The affinity of differing particle sizes to a moving standing wave light pattern allows us to hold and deliver them in a bi-directional manner and importantly demonstrate experimentally particle sorting in the sub-micron region. This is performed without the need of fluid flow (static sorting). Theoretical calculations experimentally confirm that certain sizes of colloidal particles thermally hop more easily between neighboring traps. A new generic method is also presented for particle position detection in an extended periodic light pattern and applied to characterization of optical traps and particle behavior
The size- and fluorescence-based sorting of micro- and nano-scale particles suspended in fluid presents a significant and important challenge for both sample analysis and for manufacturing of nanoparticle-based products. Here we demonstrate a disposable microfluidic particle sorter that enables high-throughput, on-demand counting and binary sorting of sub-micron particles and cells, using either fluorescence or an electrically-based determination of particle size. Size-based sorting uses a resistive pulse sensor integrated on-chip, while fluorescence-based discrimination is achieved using on-the-fly optical image capture and analysis. Following detection and analysis, the individual particles are deflected using a pair of piezoelectric actuators, directing the particles into one of two desired output channels; the main flow goes into a third waste channel. The integrated system can achieve sorting fidelities of better than 98%, and the mechanism can successfully count and actuate, on demand, more than 60,000 particles/min.
A nanoparticle detection scheme with single particle resolution is presented. The sensor contains only a taper fiber thus offering the advantages of compactness and installation flexibility. Sensing method is based on monitoring the transmitted light power which shows abrupt jumps with each particle binding to the taper surface. The experimental validation of the sensor is demonstrated with polystyrene nanoparticles of radii 120 nm and 175 nm in the 1550 nm wavelength band.
Carrier wave shocking is studied using the Pseudo-Spectral Spatial Domain (PSSD) technique. We describe the shock detection diagnostics necessary for this numerical study, and verify them against theoretical shocking predictions for the dispersionless case. These predictions show Carrier Envelope Phase (CEP) and pulse bandwidth sensitivity in the single-cycle regime. The flexible dispersion management offered by PSSD enables us to independently control the linear and nonlinear dispersion. Customized dispersion profiles allow us to analyze the development of both carrier self-steepening and shocks. The results exhibit a marked asymmetry between normal and anomalous dispersion, both in the limits of the shocking regime and in the (near) shocked pulse waveforms. Combining these insights, we offer some suggestions on how carrier shocking (or at least extreme self-steepening) might be realised experimentally.
Single nanoparticle tracking using optical microscopy is a powerful technique with many applications in biology, chemistry and material sciences. Despite significant advances, localising objects with nanometric position accuracy in a scattering environment remains challenging. Applied methods to achieve contrast are dominantly fluorescence based, with fundamental limits in the emitted photon fluxes arising from the excited-state lifetime as well as photobleaching. Furthermore, every localisation method reported to date requires signal acquisition from multiple spatial points, with consequent speed limitations. Here, we show a new four-wave mixing interferometry technique, whereby the position of a single non-fluorescing gold nanoparticle is determined with better than 20 nm accuracy in plane and 1 nm axially from rapid single-point acquisition measurements by exploiting optical vortices. The technique is also uniquely sensitive to particle asymmetries of only 0.5% aspect ratio, corresponding to a single atomic layer of gold, as well as particle orientation, and the detection is background-free even inside biological cells. This method opens new ways of of unraveling single-particle trafficking within complex 3D architectures.
Forces and torques exerted on dielectric disks trapped in a Gaussian standing wave are analyzed theoretically for disks of radius $2~mutext{m}$ with index of refraction $n=1.45$ and $n=2.0$ as well as disks of radius 200 nm with $n=1.45$. Calculations of the forces and torques were conducted both analytically and numerically using a discrete-dipole approximation method. Besides harmonic terms, third order ro-translational coupling terms in the potential energy can be significant and a necessary consideration when describing the dynamics of disks outside of the Rayleigh limit. The coupling terms are a result of the finite extension of the disk coupling to both the Gaussian and standing wave geometry of the beam. The resulting dynamics of the degrees of freedom most affected by the coupling terms exhibit several sidebands as evidenced in the power spectral densities. Simulations show that for Gaussian beam waists of $1-4~mutext{m}$ the disk remains stably trapped.