Sorting Nanoparticles with Intertwined Plasmonic and Thermo-Hydrodynamical Forces

A. Cuche, A. Canaguier-Durand, E. Devaux, J. A. Hutchison, C. Genet, and T. W. Ebbesen

We exploit plasmonic and thermo-hydrodynamical forces to sort gold nanoparticles in a microfluidic environment. In the appropriate regime, the experimental data extracted from a Brownian statistical analysis of the kinetic motions are in good agreement with Mie-type theoretical evaluations of the optical forces acting on the nanoparticles in the plasmonic near field. This analysis enables us to demonstrate the importance of thermal and hydrodynamical effects in a sorting perspective.

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