Particle trapping with optical nanofibers: a review [Invited]

Abstract

Optical trapping has proven to be an efficient method to control particles, including biological cells, single biological macromolecules, colloidal microparticles, and nanoparticles. Multiple types of particles have been successfully trapped, leading to various applications of optical tweezers ranging from biomedical through physics to material sciences. However, precise manipulation of particles with complex composition or of sizes down to nanometer-scales can be difficult with conventional optical tweezers, and an alternative manipulation tool is desirable. Optical nanofibers, that is, fibers with a waist diameter smaller than the propagating wavelength of light, are ideal candidates for optical manipulation due to their large evanescent field that extends beyond the fiber surface. They have the added advantages of being easily connected to a fibered experimental setup, being simple to fabricate, and providing strong electric field confinement and intense magnitude of evanescent fields at the nanofiber’s surface. Many different particles have been trapped, rotated, transported, and assembled with such a system. This article reviews particle trapping using optical nanofibers and highlights some challenges and future potentials of this developing topic.