# Optical Hoovering on Plasmonic Rinks

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates plasmon-assisted optical hoovering of water drops on gold surfaces, showing potential for innovative microfluidic and sensing applications through plasmonic surface wave manipulation.

## Contribution

It introduces the concept of optical hoovering using plasmonic surface waves and provides experimental proof of principle with analysis of variability factors.

## Key findings

- Water drops can be hoovered on gold surfaces using plasmonic excitation.
- Surface roughness affects the thresholds and movement of drops.
- The technique has potential applications in microfluidics and sensing.

## Abstract

Excitation of surface waves on conducting materials provides a near resistance-free interface capable of a material glissade either by plasmon forces or optical beam tractors. Analogous to an ice hockey rink, as proof of principle plasmon assisted optical traction, or hoovering, of water drops on a gold surface is demonstrated. Variability in thresholds and movement is observed and can be explained by the presence of significant roughness, measured by SEM. The demonstration opens a path to directly integrate various optical and plasmonic glissade technologies. Ways of improving transport and potential applications spanning configurable microfluidics, antennas, diagnostics,sensing and active devices are discussed.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1903.10106