Recent Achievements on Photovoltaic Optoelectronic Tweezers Based on Lithium Niobate

Abstract

Abstract:This review presents an up-dated summary of the fundamentals and applications of optoelectronic photovoltaic tweezers for trapping and manipulation of nano-objects on the surface of lithium niobate crystals. It extends the contents of previous reviews to cover new topics and developments which have emerged in recent years and are marking the trends for future research. Regarding the theoretical description of photovoltaic tweezers, detailed simulations of the electrophoretic and dielectrophoretic forces acting on different crystal configurations are discussed in relation to the structure of the obtained trapping patterns. As for the experimental work, we will pay attention to the manipulation and patterning of micro-and nanoparticles that has experimented an outstanding progress and relevant applications have been reported. An additional focus is now laid on recent work about micro-droplets, which is a central topic in microfluidics and optofluidics. New developments in biology and biomedicine also constitute a relevant part of the review. Finally, some topics partially related with photovoltaic tweezers and a discussion on future prospects and challenges are included.

Optoelectronic Manipulation, Trapping, Splitting, and Merging of Water Droplets and Aqueous Biodroplets Based on the Bulk Photovoltaic Effect

“…n being the steady-state density of photo-excited electrons, μ the electron mobility and jpv the current density given by Equation 1. This field extends near the surface outside the crystal as an evanescent field that can act either on neutral and charged micro-or nano-objects through dielectrophoretic (DEP) or electrophoretic (EP) forces, respectively, as explain in detail in previous works [14,15]. There are two main useful geometries for the photovoltaic substrates, the parallel (x-or y-cut crystals) and perpendicular (z-cut crystals) configurations, which have the polar axis parallel or normal to the active surface, respectively [38].…”

“…They are simpler because operate at low light intensity without electrodes or power supplies. Recently, PVOT have experimented a remarkable development, succeeding in the manipulation, trapping and patterning of a large variety of microand nano-objects including particles (metal, dielectric, organic…) (see References [14,15] and references therein) and nonpolar liquid (oil) droplets [16][17][18]. They are based on the bulk photovoltaic effect that allows the light-induced generation of very high electric fields patterns (100-200 kV/cm) inside certain ferroelectrics such as LiNbO3:Fe (LN:Fe) [19].…”

Real-Time Identification of Oxygen Vacancy Centers in LiNbO3 and SrTiO3 during Irradiation with High Energy Particles

“…This latter property has received renewed attention in view of its function in novel applications. For example, LiNbO 3 -functionalized surfaces have been used for trapping and manipulating nanoparticles (photovoltaic tweezers) [2]. SrTiO 3 and other cubic perovskites offer outstanding potential for electronic, optoelectronic, and photocatalytic devices and constitute the basis for the new growing field known as complex oxide-based microelectronics [3][4][5][6][7].…”

Genetic Material Manipulation and Modification by Optical Trapping and Nanosurgery-A Perspective

“…Several of these materials display the so called bulk photovoltaic effect and produce enormous electric fields in the near-field when light-excited. A combination of OT and electrophoresis/dielectrophoresis by photoactivated ferroelectrics can result in complex or massive trapping patterns (García-Cabañes et al, 2018). Living cells perturbation has been already proved with this microirradiation approach (Blázquez-Castro et al, 2011).…”