1. On-chip nanophotonic devices

We design, fabricate and characterize new on-chip nanophotonic devices including on-chip optical tweezers, metasurfaces, mode conversion resonators, waveguides with well-designed near field landscapes, which can be used for on-chip trapping, actuating and sensing. Below picture or video: on-chip optical tweezer array (left), a microshpere is trapped by the on-chip optical tweezer (right).

2. Optical manipulations in dry environments

Most optical manipulations are achieved in liquid environments where the strong adhesion between the manipulated object and the surface it contacts with is removed with the help of liquids. We are aiming to achieve light-induced motions in dry environments, especially when the actuated part contacts with its supporting part and are tightly held on the support by the strong adhesion at the microscale. In this case, the light-actuated motions can be very precisely and stably controlled (with subnanometer resolution). Applications include micro-optomechanical systems, outer-space optical precision mechanics and controls, etc. Below videos: light-induced pulling and pushing of a gold plate on a tapered fiber (left), light-driven a gold plate rotating around a microfiber (right).