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The challenge of inducing and controlling localized fluid flows for generic force actuation and for achieving efficient mass transport in microfluidics is key to the development of next generation miniaturized systems for chemistry and life…
Systematic deflection of microparticles off of initial streamlines is a fundamental task in microfluidics, aiming at applications including sorting, accumulation, or capture of the transported particles. In a large class of setups,…
The method of transformation optics has been a powerful tool to manipulate physical fields if governing equations are formally invariant under coordinate transformations. However, regulation of hydrodynamics is still far from satisfactory…
The interactions of autonomous microswimmers play an important role for the formation of collective states of motile active matter. We study them in detail for the common microswimmer-design of two-faced Janus spheres with hemispheres made…
We analyse surface-fluctuations-driven fluid flow through nano-channels to investigate the interplay between boundary layer flow structures and the bulk flow of fluid under a pressure-head. Surface fluctuations of a wide range of…
Thermodynamics tells us to expect underwater contact between two hydrophobic surfaces to result in stronger adhesion compared to two hydrophilic surfaces. However, presence of water changes not only energetics, but also the dynamic process…
Nanostructures are commonly used for developing superhydrophobic surfaces. However, available wetting theoretical models ignore the effect of vacuum photon-modes alteration on van der Waals forces and thus on hydrophobicity. Using…
Surface plasmon resonances of metallic nanostructures offer great opportunities to guide and manipulate light on the nanoscale. In the design of novel plasmonic devices, a central topic is to clarify the intricate relationship between the…
We show that an electro-osmotic flow near the slippery hydrophobic surface depends strongly on the mobility of surface charges, which are balanced by counter-ions of the electrostatic diffuse layer. For a hydrophobic surface with immobile…
Nanoscale confinement of molecules in a fluid can result in enhanced viscosity, local fluidic order, or collective motion. Confinement also affects ion transport and/or the rate and equilibrium concentration in a chemical reaction, all of…
We demonstrate that a single sub-wavelength nanoaperture in a metallic thin film can be used to achieve dynamic optical trapping and control of a single dielectric nanowire. A nanoaperture can trap a nanowire, control its orientation when…
Plasmonic absorption of light can lead to significant local heating in metallic nanostructures, an effect that defines the sub-field of thermoplasmonics and has been leveraged in diverse applications from biomedical technology to…
Controlling the motion of nano and microscale objects in a fluid environment is a key factor in designing optimized tiny machines that perform mechanical tasks such as transport of drugs or genetic material in cells, fluid mixing to…
Water droplets are a perspective highly abundant phase-change material to realize tunable optical lenses. We demonstrated for the first time that freezing mesoscale water droplet could be use as tunable optical lens, such that freezing…
Thermo-osmotic flows, generated at liquid-solid interfaces by thermal gradients, can be used to produce electric currents from waste heat on charged surfaces. The two key parameters controlling the thermo-osmotic current are the surface…
Using Lifshitz theory we assess the role of van der Waals forces at interfaces of ice and water. The results are combined with measured structural forces from computer simulations to develop a quantitative model of the surface free energy…
Controllable rotation of micro-/nano-objects provides tremendous opportunities for cellular biology, three-dimensional (3D) imaging, and micro/nanorobotics. Among different rotation techniques, optical rotation is particularly attractive…
Operation of nanomechanical devices in water environment has been challenging due to the strong viscous damping that greatly impedes the mechanical motion. Here we demonstrate an optomechanical micro-wheel resonator integrated in…
Assembling two-dimensional van der Waals layered materials into heterostructures is an exciting development that sparked the discovery of rich correlated electronic phenomena and offers possibilities for designer device applications.…
Optomechanics is concerned with the use of light to control mechanical objects. As a field, it has been hugely successful in the production of precise and novel sensors, the development of low-dissipation nanomechanical devices, and the…