A Review of Optical Tweezers with Metasurfaces

Abstract

Optical tweezers (OTs) have made significant progress in recent years, realizing the non-contact optical manipulation of target objects through the interaction between light and matter. In addition to trapping particles with the intensity gradient of the beam, a series of complex optical elements are required to properly modulate the beams to expand the operation of optical manipulation. The development of metasurfaces alleviates this problem. Due to the merits of miniaturization, planarization, multi-function, and integration of metasurfaces, these kinds of novel devices have been applied in OT systems. Metasurface devices have been used to replace traditional objective lenses, achieving device integration and even obtaining multi-function of OTs with unique optical properties in applications. OTs with metasurfaces have developed rapidly, and a great deal of work has been carried out on OTs with metasurfaces, as well as discussions on their practical applications. In this review, we regard the latest progress in the field of OTs with metasurfaces. We classify OTs with metasurface and summarize the new impetus brought by metasurfaces for the development of OTs.

On-demand multiplexed vortex beams for terahertz polarization detection based on metasurfaces

“…THz near-field scanning experiments are in excellent agreement with full-wave simulations in all cases studied, which collectively demonstrates the validity of our scheme, having potential application in optical tweezers. 63 The maximum values of the normalized amplitudes extracted on the paths are defined as I A and I B , occupied by points A and B, respectively. Correspondingly, the minimum values of the normalized amplitudes are defined as I C (point C) and I D (point D), as shown in Fig.…”

Synergy between AI and Optical Metasurfaces: A Critical Overview of Recent Advances

“…It is a short cross-section of the state of the art presented for illustrative purposes only, i.e., without systematization, while the real number of applications, patents and research teams is hard even to guess since it increases on a daily basis. As far as the more advanced applications are concerned, some of them include optofluidic devices [100] for microreactors encompassing photocatalysis [101], lab-on-chip technologies [102]; optical tweezers for micro-and nanoparticle trapping and manipulation [103]; optical levers for atomic force microscopy [104]; biomedical imaging [105], e.g., optical coherence tomography [106], terahertz imaging [107]; super-resolution microscopy beyond the Abbe diffraction limit [108] including the use of superlenses and hyperlenses [109]; nonlinear optical devices for frequency conversion [110]; quantum optics [33] for quantum computing [111] and quantum cryptography [112]; stealth coatings [113]; optical cloaking devices (invisibility shields) [114,115], nonreciprocal cloaking (cloak that hides objects from the outside viewpoint but permits looking from the object outward) [116]; camouflage into virtual objects (electromagnetic illusions) [117,118]; and general transformation optics [119] (including its applications in, e.g., astrophysical all-optical simulation and the related models in other fields [120]).…”

Special Issue on Light Control and Particle Manipulation: An Overview

“…Last but not least, structured materials have been applied in optical tweezer systems due to their merits of miniaturization, multi-function, and integration. Finally, we carried out a review of the latest progress in the field of optical tweezers with metasurfaces [17]. Metasurfaces provide new possibilities for optical tweezers, and a large number of works have been carried out to accelerate the development of this field.…”