Microengines have shown promise for a variety of applications in nanotechnology, from microfluidics to nanomedicine and targeted drug delivery. However, their precise control over their dynamics is still challenging. We introduce a micro engine that exploits both optical and thermal effects to achieve a high degree of controllability. We find that a gold-silica Janus particle illuminated by a high focused laser beam can be confined at the stationary point where the optical and thermal forces balance. By using circularly polarized light the symmetry between these forces can be broken by transferring angular momentum to the particle, resulting in a tangential force that induces an orbital motion of the particle. We can simultaneously control the velocity and direction of rotation of the particle, changing the ellipticity of the incoming light beam while tuning the radius of the orbit with laser power. We validate our results using a geometrical optics model that incorporates optical force, the absorption of optical power, and the resulting heating of the particle.
Self-organisation is driven by the interactions between the individual components of a system mediated by the environment, and is one of the most important strategies used by many biological systems to develop complex and functional structures. Furthermore, biologically-inspired self-organisation offers opportunities to develop the next generation of materials and devices for electronics, photonics and nanotechnology. In this work, we demonstrate experimentally that a system of Janus particles (silica microspheres half-coated with gold) aggregates into clusters in the presence of a Gaussian optical potential and disaggregates when the optical potential is switched off. We show that the underlying mechanism is the existence of a hydrodynamic flow induced by a temperature gradient generated by the light absorption at the metallic patches on the Janus particles. We also perform simulations, which agree well with the experiments and whose results permit us to clarify the underlying mechanism. The possibility of hydrodynamic-flux-induced reversible clustering may have applications in the fields of drug delivery, cargo transport, bioremediation and biopatterning.
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