Investigation of light-induced motion in tailored microparticles

When we think about microswimmers in fluidic environments, living organisms like bacteria, protozoa or archaea come first to mind. However, artificial realizations of microswimmers have aroused as versatile systems that allow to control their motility properties. Such artificial swimmers (or active swimmers) have the ability to convert the energy from the environment into direct motion. Among the different propulsion mechanisms, the use of light represents an effective and promising approach.

In this Master Thesis work we are going to generate micro- and nanoparticles and tailor them to exhibit optical properties that enable their self-propulsion. State-of-the-art photonic techniques will be used. The particles will be assembled using two-photon polymerization, a process based on the focusing of laser pulses into the desired volume of a photosensitive material, conse-quently inducing two-photon absorption and polymerization. The manipulation and investiga-tion of the motion capabilities will be done with holographic optical tweezers (HOT), an excep-tionally suitable tool to arrange the position of the micro-sized objects with high precision. To evaluate the results, we will use particle tracking algorithms.

This Master thesis is organized thematically into the ongoing research of the "optical tweezers" team of Nonlinear Photonics group. In such team, Bachelor, Master, PhD students and Post-docs discuss frequently about results, problems, scientific articles and new ideas in an enjoya-ble atmosphere.

We are looking for committed students interested in applications of Photonics and eager to work on actual research activities.

Interested? Do not hesitate to contact Dr. Neus Oliver to know more about the topic, the labs, and the proposed thesis within the framework of optical micromanipulation.