First publications show the full potential of Optofluidics' NanoTweezer

In 2015 the first publications on the characterization of individual (nano) particles with the NanoTweezer have been published: “Nanophotonic Force Microscopy: Charac­terizing Particle−Surface Interac­tions Using Near-Field Photonics” (1) and “A nanotweezer system for evanescent wave excited surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of single nanoparticles”. (2) NanoTweezer is based on a brand-new waveguide technology that uses a laser to trap (nano) particles in the evanescent field on the surface of the waveguide. The resulting scattered light enables the measurement of interactions between the individual particles and the optical conductor. The surface of the waveguide can be chemically altered to fit the requirements of the particles to be measured. This allows Raman spectroscopic measurements and surface characterization on individual particles of approx. 20 nm to 3 µm in size.

(1) Perry Schein, Pilgyu Kang, Dakota O’Dell, and David Erickson: Nano Lett., 15, 1414−1420 (2015)
(2) Lingbo Kong, Changwon Lee, Christopher M. Earhart, Bernardo Cordovez, and James W. Chan: Optics Express Vol. 23, Iss. 5, pp. 6793–6802 (2015)

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