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SUMMARY:Geometry-induced electrostatic trapping\, levitation and assembly 
 of nanometric objects in a fluid
DTSTART:20101015T110000
DTSTAMP:20260407T131656Z
UID:f13bf8015d80e4b073afb0f43203aa230ab282ed997d0def85e5bf7d
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Madhari Krishnan\, ETHZ\nThe ability to trap an object —
  whether a single atom or a macroscopic entity — affects fields as diver
 se as quantum optics\, soft condensed-matter physics\, biophysics and clin
 ical medicine. Many sophisticated methodologies have been developed to cou
 nter the randomizing effect of Brownian motion in solution\, but stable tr
 apping of nanometre-sized objects remains challenging. I will show that a 
 fluidic slit with appropriately tailored topography has a spatially modula
 ted electrostatic potential that can trap and levitate charged objects in 
 solution for up to several hours. Gold particles\, polymer beads and lipid
  vesicles with diameters of tens of nanometres are all trapped without ext
 ernal intervention and independently of their mass and dielectric function
  [1]. The stiffness and stability of this electrostatic trap is easily tun
 ed by adjusting the system geometry and the ionic strength of the solution
 \, and it lends itself to integration with other manipulation mechanisms. 
 These features will allow its use for contact-free confinement of single p
 roteins and macromolecules\, and the sorting and fractionation of nanometr
 e-sized objects or their assembly into high-density arrays.
LOCATION:MEB10
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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