Particle Manipulation

How can you position individual atoms, nanowires, and nanoparticles?

Moving individual atoms with a probe, illustrated using a refrigerator magent.

Moving individual iron atoms around on a copper substrate to form the quantum corral.
Images from Crommie, Lutz, and Eigler http://www.almaden.ibm.com/vis/stm/corral.html

Nickel nanowires in a rotating magnetic field. Movie by Anne Bentley.

Self-propelled nanowires. Movie by Tom Mallouk et al., "Catalytic Nanomotors: Autonomous Movement of Striped Nanorods," J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 126 (41), 13424-13431 (2004).

Inertial motion of M & Ms: place some M&Ms on a piece of paper, slowly move it in one direction then quickly move it in the opposite, see the particles move a bit. Do it many times and you can accumulate large total motions.

Inertial motion of microparticles: microparticles moving on shear piezos driven at kHz frequencies.
200 µm glass beads on glass coverslip
8 kHz parabolic waveform ±70 V
up - down - up
Movie 1 by Michael Eglin.

Inertial motion of microparticles: microparticles moving on shear piezos driven at kHz frequencies.
40 µm glass beads on glass coverslip
50 kHz square wave ±30V
Movie 4 by Michael Eglin.

---