Opto-thermoelectric speckle tweezers

Abstract Opto-thermoelectric tweezers present a new paradigm for optical trapping and manipulation of particles using low-power and simple optics. New real-life applications of opto-thermoelectric tweezers in areas such as biophysics, microfluidics, and nanomanufacturing will require them to have large-scale and high-throughput manipulation capabilities in complex environments. Here, we present opto-thermoelectric speckle tweezers, which use speckle field consisting of many randomly distributed thermal hotspots that arise from an optical speckle pattern to trap multiple particles over large areas. By further integrating the speckle tweezers with a microfluidic system, we experimentally demonstrate their application for size-based nanoparticle filtration. With their low-power operation, simplicity, and versatility, opto-thermoelectric speckle tweezers will broaden the applications of optical manipulation techniques.