Publications

Nano-engineering by optically directed self-assembly

Grillet, Anne M.; Koehler, Timothy P.; Brotherton, Christopher M.; Bell, Nelson S.; Gorby, Allen D.; Reichert, Matthew D.; Brinker, C.J.; Bogart, Katherine B.

Lack of robust manufacturing capabilities have limited our ability to make tailored materials with useful optical and thermal properties. For example, traditional methods such as spontaneous self-assembly of spheres cannot generate the complex structures required to produce a full bandgap photonic crystals. The goal of this work was to develop and demonstrate novel methods of directed self-assembly of nanomaterials using optical and electric fields. To achieve this aim, our work employed laser tweezers, a technology that enables non-invasive optical manipulation of particles, from glass microspheres to gold nanoparticles. Laser tweezers were used to create ordered materials with either complex crystal structures or using aspherical building blocks.