Micro-OptoMechanical Movements (MOMs) with SoftOxometalates (SOMs): Controlled Motion of Single Soft-Oxometalate Pea-pods Using Exotic Optical Potentials

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the controlled optical manipulation of asymmetric Soft Oxo Metalates (SOMs) with pea-pod shapes, enabling precise movement along complex paths for potential applications in catalysis and dynamic architecture construction.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to controllably move individual SOMs using tailored optical potentials created by spin-orbit interaction in a stratified media optical trap.

Findings

Controlled motion of SOMs along circular paths exceeding 15 μm.

Manipulation achieved by varying the polarization of the trapping laser.

Potential applications in catalysis and dynamic mesoscopic architecture.

Abstract

An important challenge in the field of materials design and synthesis is to deliberately design mesoscopic objects starting from well-defined precursors and inducing directed movements in them to emulate biological processes. Recently, mesoscopic metal-oxide based Soft Oxo Metalates (SOMs) have been synthesized from well-defined molecular precursors transcending the regime of translational periodicity. Here we show that it is actually possible to controllably move such an asymmetric SOM-with the shape of a `pea-pod' along complex paths using tailor-made sophisticated optical potentials created by spin-orbit interaction due to a tightly focused linearly polarized Gaussian beam propagating through stratified media in an optical trap. We demonstrate motion of individual trapped SOMs along circular paths of more than 15 $\mu$m in a perfectly controlled manner by simply varying the input polarization of the trapping laser. Such controlled motion can have a wide range of application starting from catalysis to the construction of dynamic mesoscopic architectures.