Efficient photo-induced dielectrophoretic particle trapping on Fe:LiNbO_3 for arbitrary two dimensional patterning

Abstract

ID and 2D patterning of uncharged micro-and nanoparticles via dielectrophoretic forces on photovoltaic z-cut Fe:LiNb0 3 have been investigated for the first time.The technique has been successfully applied with dielectric micro-particles of CaC0 3 (diameter d = 1-3 urn) and metal nanoparticles of Al (d = 70 nm).At difference with previous experiments in x-and >>-cut, the obtained patterns locally reproduce the light distribution with high fidelity.A simple model is provided to analyse the trapping process.The results show the remarkably good capabilities of this geometry for high quality 2D light-induced dielectrophoretic patterning overcoming the important limitations presented by previous configurations.©2015 Optical Society of America