Integration of plasmonic optical traps in microfluidics

We study the integration of plasmonic traps with microfluidic channels. Plasmonic traps are optical traps that use the evanescent field generated by metallic nanostructures at their plasmon resonance to trap small objects. Contrary to conventional - far-field - traps, plasmonic traps do not require complex optics, as the trapping potential is solely determined by the near-field generated by the nanostructure. This work includes the theoretical study of the trapping potential and its relation to the plasmon resonance; the fabrication of plasmonic traps using electron-beam lithography; the integration with PDMS microchannels; and the statistical analysis of small objects trapped in the structure.