UNDERSTANDING OPTICAL PRINTING

JULIÁN GARGIULO; IANINA L. VIOLI; FERNANDO STEFANI

Buenos Aires

Simposio; Frontiers in Physical Siences; 2016

International Center for Advanced Studies and the Max Planck Liason Office for Latin America

In  the  last decades, a  vast  quantity of  protocols  were  established  for the  synthesis  of colloidal metallic nanoparticles of different materials, shapes andsizes. Developing an efficient technic for immobilization of these particlesinto specific positions of a surface is a hot topic and an open challenge. Optical printing is a powerful all-optical method that canaccomplish this goal without the need of sophisticated equipment like SEM orAFM microscopes. Furthermore, since it is based on optical forces and theinteraction of light with nanoparticles is size and composition dependent, thetechnique has a strong potential for selective deposition,  sorting and  a  great versatility  for  combination of  different  particles. Here, we present a systematic studyof the precision and resolution of Optical Printing, its limitations andperspectives, based on our measurements and theoretical considerations. We discussthe maximum achievable precision for the immobilization of a single particleonto a surface and the experimental parameters influencing it. We study variousregimes, using light at or far from plasmon resonance for Ag and Au nanospheres.We also discuss the minimum reachable interparticledistances, toward the fabrication of functional nanostructures and microcircuits.  We show that strong photothermal forces can hinderthe assembly of nanoparticle dimers and present several strategies to overcomethis obstacle. Finally, we demonstrate for the first time the optical printingof connected nanoparticles with well-defined orientation.