Related papers: Ultrafast photomechanical transduction through the…

Active particles locally transduce energy into motion, leading to unusual and emergent behaviors. However, current synthetic particles lack sensing and adaptation mechanisms. Here, we demonstrate a novel regulation pathway, through the…

The ability to separate miniscule solid particles (e.g., nanoparticles, NPs) from liquid is important to a wide range of applications, such as water purification, material deposition, and biomedical engineering. Such separation is usually…

Achieving controlled and directed motion of artificial nanoscale systems in three-dimensional fluid environments remains a key-challenge in active matter, primarily due to the prevailing thermal fluctuations that rapidly randomize the…

Laser has become a powerful tool to manipulate micro-particles and atoms by radiation pressure force or photophoretic force, but optical manipulation is less noticeable for large objects. Optically-induced negative forces have been proposed…

The use of femtosecond laser pulses to impulsively excite thermal and mechanical transients in matter has led, in the last years, to the development of picosecond acoustics. Recently, the pump-probe approach has been applied to…

Scaling down miniature rotorcraft and flapping-wing flyers to sub-centimeter dimensions is challenging due to complex electronics requirements, manufacturing limitations, and the increase in viscous damping at low Reynolds numbers.…

We show how the deposition of laser energy induces propulsion and strong deformation of an absorbing liquid body. Combining high speed with stroboscopic imaging, we observe that a millimeter-sized dyed water drop hit by a millijoule…

Ultra-intense lasers that ionize and accelerate electrons in solids to near the speed of light can lead to kinetic instabilities that alter the laser absorption and subsequent electron transport, isochoric heating, and ion acceleration.…

We propose and theoretically analyze an experiment where displacement sensing of an optically levitated nanoparticle in front of a surface can be used to measure the induced dipole-dipole interaction between the nanoparticle and its thermal…

Multilayer microparticles with a liquid core and a polycomposite light-absorbing shell (microcapsules) are important components of modern bio- and medical technologies. Opening of the microcapsule shell and payload release can be realized…

Ultrafast laser ablation is an extremely precise and clean method of removing material, applied in material processing as well as medical applications. And due to its violent nature, it tests our understanding of the interplay between…

Ultrafast lasers are ideal tools to process transparent materials because they spatially confine the deposition of laser energy within the material's bulk via nonlinear photoionization processes. Nonlinear propagation and filamentation were…

It has been recently reported that elastic waves induced by nanosecond light pulses can be used to drive nano-motion of micro-objects on frictional solid interfaces, a challenging task for traditional techniques using tiny optical force. In…

Downsizing microswimmers to the nanoscale, and using light as an externally controlled fuel, are two important goals within the field of active matter. Here we demonstrate using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations that solvation…

Ultrafast nanophotonics is an emerging research field aimed at the development of nanodevices capable of light modulation with unprecedented speed. A promising approach exploits the optical nonlinearity of nanostructured materials (either…

This paper presents a novel approach to launch single microparticles at high velocities under low vacuum conditions. In an all-optical table-top method, microparticles with sizes ranging from a few microns to tens of microns are accelerated…

Optical forces allow manipulation of small particles and control of nanophotonic structures with light beams. Here, we describe a counter-intuitive lateral optical force acting on particles placed above a substrate, under uniform plane wave…

The propulsion and acceleration of nanoparticles with light have both fundamental and applied significance across many disciplines. Needle-free injection of biomedical nano cargoes into living tissues is among the examples. Here we explore…

Controlling acoustic phonons, the carriers of sound and heat, has been attracting great attention toward the manipulation of sonic and thermal properties in nanometric devices. In particular, the photo-acoustic effect using ultrafast…

We develop a novel approach to ultrafast optical modulation of quantum-mechanical phenomena at the interface of plasmonic metals. Focusing on efficient and versatile nanoparticle-on-mirror plasmonic nanocavities, we discuss indirect control…