Semiconducting nanowires, such as ZnO and Si, are used in the fields of nanophotonics and nanoelectronics. Optical tweezers offer the promise of flexible positional control of such particles in a liquid, but so far this has been limited to either manipulation close to the surface, or to axial trapping of nanowires. We show the three-dimensional trapping of ZnO and silica-coated Si nanowires in counter-propagating line tweezers, and demonstrate translational and rotational in-plane manipulation, away from the surfaces. The high-refractive index particles investigated — ZnO wires (n~1.9) with varying lengths up to 20µm and 6-µm-long silica-coated Si wires (n =3.6) — could not be trapped in single-beam line traps. Opposite surface charges are used to fix the nanowires to a surface. Full translational and in-plane rotational control of semiconducting nanowires expands the possibilities to position individual wires in complex geometries significantly.

OPG
doi.org/10.1364/OE.15.011629
Opt. Express

van der Horst, A., Campbell, A. I., van Vugt, L. K., Vanmaekelbergh, D. A., Dogterom, M., & van Blaaderen, A. (2007). Manipulating metal-oxide nanowires using counter-propagating optical line tweezers. Opt. Express, 15(18), 11629–11639. doi:10.1364/OE.15.011629