Optically Controlled Stochastic Jumps of Individual Gold Nanorod Rotary Motors

Abstract

Brownian microparticles diffusing in optical potential energy landscapes constitute a generic testbed for nonequilibrium statistical thermodynamics and has been used to emulate a wide variety of physical systems, ranging from Josephson junctions to Stirling engines. Here we demonstrate that it is possible to scale down this approach to nanometric length-scales by constructing a tilted washboard potential for the rotation of plasmonic gold nanorods. The potential depth and tilt can be precisely adjusted by modulating the light polarization. This allows for a gradual transition from continuous rotation to discrete stochastic jumps, which are found to follow Kramers dynamics in excellent agreement with stochastic simulations. The results widen the possibilities for fundamental experiments in statistical physics and provide new insights in how to construct light-driven nanomachines and multifunctional sensing elements.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Optical detection of single non-absorbing molecules using the surface plasmon of a gold nanorod
• Brownian Carnot engine
• Direct Measurement of Kramers Turnover with a Levitated Nanoparticle
• Measurement of Stochastic Entropy Production
• Optical torque controlled by elliptical polarization
• Giant Colloidal Diffusivity on Corrugated Optical Vortices
• Transition-Event Durations in One Dimensional Activated Processes
• Effective temperatures of hot Brownian motion
• Stochastic Hydrodynamic Synchronization in Rotating Energy Landscapes

Cited by in corpus (2)

• 6 GHz hyperfast rotation of an optically levitated nanoparticle in vacuum
• Study of adhesivity of surfaces using rotational optical tweezers