CAREER: Near-field Optical Forces

摘要ECCS-0747560 Kenneth Crozier，哈佛大学研究员在该提案的第一部分，PI概述了一项计划，以实现一个全新的光镊技术的基础上，金属纳米结构被称为光学天线。PI将演示使用制造的光学天线镊子设备捕获半径范围为10-500 nm的纳米颗粒。PI将演示布朗马达，其中热噪声将通过提供克服能量障碍的机制来帮助定向运动。教育在提案的第二部分，PI概述了他在K12、本科和研究生阶段的教育计划。在K-12水平，PI致力于通过为感兴趣的教师和学生举办研讨会来支持剑桥公立学校系统的科学教育。在私家侦探之下？在导师的指导下，本科生将构建一个传统的光镊系统。这将是研究计划的重要组成部分，因为传统系统的性能将与新构造的近场光镊进行比较。PI将在哈佛生物物理学项目中引入一门新的专题课程。在本课程中，我们将介绍纳米光子学在生物科学中的最新进展。在微流体系统中采用光镊分选纳米颗粒的一个重要障碍是传统光镊所需的高激光功率。所提出的光镊技术将大大降低稳定捕获纳米颗粒所需的激光功率。提出的布朗马达将证明，热运动结合不对称的，随时间变化的光学潜力，可以用来行使控制纳米系统。私家侦探？的教育计划将他的研究实验室的兴奋转化为K-12，本科和研究生水平。私家侦探？K12教育推广计划是基于他作为研究生的经历，他在小学和中学的孩子课后辅导科学计划。这让他很欣赏这样的项目可以非常有效地增加学生？对数学和科学的热情。更广泛的影响拟议的研究将使纳米粒子被操纵与紧凑，低功率激光源。光阱是由光刻技术产生的，这一事实使它们与微系统技术兼容，并使它们能够放置在芯片上的任意位置。预计热棘轮与表面等离子体纳米结构的演示将有助于我们理解布朗马达的其他例子，例如在生物学中。拟议中的教育计划将有助于吸引和留住科学和工程专业的学生。私家侦探？剑桥大学的K12教育推广计划将支持剑桥公立学校系统的科学教学，学生群体几乎完全由科学和工程领域代表性不足的群体组成。PI设计了一个具体的研究项目，将由本科生根据拟议的计划进行。

AbstractECCS-0747560Kenneth Crozier, Harvard UniversityResearch In the first section of this proposal, the PI outlines a plan to realize a completely new optical tweezer technology based on metallic nanostructures known as optical antennas. The PI will demonstrate the trapping of nanoparticles with radii ranging from 10-500 nm using the fabricated optical antenna tweezer devices. The PI will demonstrate Brownian motors, in which thermal noise will assist in directed motion by providing a mechanism for overcoming energy barriers. Education In the second section of the proposal, the PI outlines his educational initiatives at the K12, undergraduate and graduate levels. At the K-12 level, the PI is committed to supporting science education in the Cambridge Public Schools system through seminars for interested teachers and students. Under the PI?s supervision, undergraduate students will construct a conventional optical tweezer system. This will be an important part of the research program, as the performance of the conventional system will be compared to that of the newly-constructed near-field optical tweezers. The PI will introduce a new Special Topics course in the Biophysics Program at Harvard. In this course, lectures will be given on the recent advances in nanophotonics that have applications in the biological sciences. Intellectual Merit A significant obstacle to the adoption of optical tweezers in microfluidic systems for the sorting of nanoparticles are the high laser powers needed with conventional optical tweezers. The proposed optical tweezer technology will reduce considerably the laser power required for the stable trapping of nanoparticles. The proposed Brownian motor will demonstrate that thermal motion combined with an asymmetric, time-varying optical potential can be used to exercise control over nanoscale systems. The PI?s education initiatives will translate the excitement of his research laboratory to the K-12, undergraduate and graduate levels. The PI?s K12 educational outreach plan is based on his experiences as a graduate student, in which he tutored at an after-school science program for elementary and middle school children. This left him with an appreciation such programs can be very effective at increasing students? enthusiasm for math and science. Broader Impact The proposed research will enable nanoparticles to be manipulated with compact, low power laser sources. The fact that the optical traps are produced by lithography makes them compatible with microsystem technology, and enables them to be placed at arbitrary locations on a chip. It is anticipated that the demonstration of thermal ratchets with surface plasmon nanostructures will contribute to our understanding of other examples of Brownian motors, for example in biology. The proposed education plan will help attract and retain students to science and engineering. The PI?s educational outreach program to K12 will support science teaching in the Cambridge Public Schools system, with a student body almost completely comprised of underrepresented groups in science and engineering. The PI has designed a specific research project that will be carried out by undergraduate students under the proposed program.