UCL Science Article

A short article on optical trapping called 'Light Forces' written by Susan and Phil is published in the 2010 issue of UCL Science for Schools magazine.

UCL Science is mailed to Schools and Colleges on the UCAS mailing list.  For extra copies contact the editor.

SPIE Conference Proceedings

Conference proceedings 'Plasmon-enhanced optical trapping of metal nanoparticles: force calculations and light-driven rotations of nanoaggregates' published as O. M. Maragò et al Proc. SPIE Vol. 7762, 77622Z (2010). 

Abstract:  We investigate experimentally and theoretically plasmon-enhanced optical trapping of metal nanoparticles. We calculate the optical forces on gold and silver nanospheres through a procedure based on the Maxwell stress tensor in the transition T-matrix formalism. We compare our calculations with experimental results finding excellent agreement. We also demonstrate how light-driven rotations can be generated and detected in non-symmetric nanorods aggregates. Analyzing the motion correlations of the trapped nanostructures, we measure with high accuracy both the optical trapping parameters, and the rotation frequency induced by the radiation pressure.

The paper included some work done with our Royal Society IJP was presented at  the conference Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VII by Onofrio Maragò.

Visit by Onofrio Marago

Onofrio Marago (NanoSoft Lab, IPCF-CNR, Messina) is visiting the group this week.  Onofrio has a long-running collaboration with the Optical Tweezers Group and exchange visits between UCL and NanoSoft Lab are presently funded by our Royal Society International Joint Project.

New Group Members

Muhammad Abdul Khudus has joined the group for his MSc project.  Muhammad gained his first degree from Imperial College and will be working on a project on nano-optics.

Nobel Laureate at UCL

2010 Physics Nobel Laureate Prof Andre Geim is giving the annual Bragg Lecture at UCL on Wednesday 27 October.  The Bragg Lecture is the premier lecture in condensed-matter and materials physics at UCL.  It is given annually by a distinguished scientist working in the field.

Graphene: Magic of Flat Carbon

Graphene - single atomic plane pulled out of graphite - is a wonder material. It has many superlatives to its name. It is the thinnest material one can imagine and the strongest one ever measured. Its charge carriers have zero effective mass and can travel micron distances without scattering under ambient conditions. Graphene can sustain current densities million times higher than copper, shows record thermal conductivity and stiffness, is impermeable to gases or liquids. It reconciles such conflicting qualities as brittleness and ductility. Electrons in graphene behave in such a way that this allows the investigation of relativistic quantum phenomena in a bench-top experiment. I will overview fascinating properties of graphene and outline some applications.

Location: Christopher Ingold Chemistry Auditorium, UCL

Time: 4.30pm, Wed 27 Oct

Bubble Ultrasound Group Meeting

The next Bubble Ultrasound Group meeting is being held at Imperial College on Friday 1 October. This is a regular series of meetings that brings together researchers working in microbubble technology and usually consists of a number of short talks on current research with time for discussion on future directions. The programme for the 1 October meeting is:

2:00 Welcome & Introduction

2:05 Jean-Pierre O'Brien

2:35 Mehrdad Azmin

3:05 David Thomas

3:35 John Casey

4:05 Veronique Mahue

4:35 General discussion

New group members

Agata Pawlikowska is joining the group for a PhD.  Agata studied at Wroclaw University of Technology and at Imperial College where she worked on holographic optical traping and gained an MSc in Optics and Photonics.  She is working for a PhD on the UCL/NPL optical and acoustical microbubble trapping project.  

Also, Radhika Patel is returning to the group.  Radhika worked in our lab over the summer as a Nuffield Foundation Bursary Student, and will be spending the rest of the year with us working on her MSci project.