Light as a Mechanism to Tailor Diffusion

Note: Pizza served at 11:45 AM .......Note: Special Day
Speaker: Manuel I. Marques, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid,Spain.

When: December 8, 2014 (Mon), 12:00PM to 01:00PM (add to my calendar)
Location: SCI 352
Hosted by: H. Eugene Stanley

This event is part of the Biophysics/Condensed Matter Seminar Series.

ABSTRACT

Optical trapping, driving and shorting of small objects has become a topic of increasing interest in multidisciplinary sciences. In this talk we show how the diffusion of small metallic nanoparticles in a liquid can be tailored by illuminating the system with a stationary electromagnetic field. By changing the phase of the radiation we can decrease or increase the diffusion constant bellow and above the standard Brownian value [1,2].

We also show how a chain made of these metallic nanoparticles can be used as a resonant light sail, attached by one end point to a transparent object and propelling it by the use of electromagnetic radiation [3]. Interestingly, there is a window in the frequency spectrum of the radiation in which a null torque equilibrium configuration, with a minimum geometric cross section, corresponds to a maximum in the driving force.

[1] S.Albaladejo,M.I.Marques,F.Sheffold,J.J.Saenz Nanoletters 9, 3527 (2009) [2] S.Albaladejo,M.I.Marques,J.J.Saenz Optics Express 19, 11471 (2011) [3] S. Albaladejo,J.J.Saenz,M.I.Marques, Nanoletters 11, 4597 (2011)