Electric levitation of nano-objects in zero-index environment (ELONEX)

对于医学、化学和物理学中的许多关键应用，纳米元件的机械操作具有根本的重要性。在这方面，具有数百纳米空间分辨率的光学力的演示导致了2018年诺贝尔奖的光镊发明。然而，对能够克服当前限制的替代工具的需求只会越来越大。例如，光镊要求目标纳米元件具有一定的形状，同时由一组半透明材料构成，以充分发挥作用。除此之外，较小的力限制了该技术在亚微米级颗粒中的使用。拟议的项目旨在丰富纳米/微米物体的机械处理工具箱，其中新的光学力迄今仅存在于理论领域。这种机械力将由超快光脉冲触发，并有可能解决先前列出的限制。

For numerous key applications in medicine, chemistry, and physics the mechanical manipulation of nano-elements is of fundamental importance. In this regard, the demonstration of an optical force with spatial resolution of few hundreds of nanometres led to the 2018 Nobel prize for the invention of optical tweezers. However, the need for alternative tools capable of overcoming current limitations is only growing. For instance, optical tweezers require the targeted nano-elements to have certain shapes while being constituted by a set of semi-transparent materials to be fully effective. In addition to this, the small magnitude of the force limits the use of this technology to sub-micron scale particles. The proposed project aims at enriching the toolbox for mechanical handling of nano/micro-objects with a new optical force that so far exists only in the theoretical realm. This mechanical force will be triggered by ultra-fast optical pulses and has the potential to address previously listed limitations.