Targeted Drug Delivery with Optical Tweezers
Targeted drug delivery become ever important problem, seeking for solutions at different levels. While a vast majority of studies on cell level are performed on a statistical basis, our goal is to develop tools, which will allow investigating relevant phenomena on a single cell level. For this purpose we use focused laser beams (optical tweezers) to optomechanically manipulate cells, drug capsules and perform the release.
▪Micromachines 11 (1), 90, (2020)
▪ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 7, 23, 19142-19156 (2019).
▪Nano letters, 19 (10), 7062-7071 (2019).
Capsules' transport
Cancer cell
Optomechanical Metamaterials
Classical optical tweezers, being a proven tool for manipulating micron-scale particles, fail to provide reliable control over a motion on a nanoscale. The reason is the classical diffraction limit, setting a lower boundary on light localization.
Auxiliary nanostructures introduce additional flexibility into optomechanical manipulation schemes. Metamaterials and metasurfaces capable to control electromagnetic interactions at the near-field regions are especially beneficial for achieving improved spatial localization of particles, reducing laser powers required for trapping, and tailoring directivity of optical forces.
▪ACS Photonics 7(2), 425-433 (2020).
▪PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 99, 125416 (2019).
▪ACS Photonics 5 (11), 4371-4377 (2018).
▪Nano Lett. 18, 5024–5029 (2018).
▪Light: Science & Applications 6, e16258 (2017).
Quantum Sensing of Motion
Structured environment controls dynamics of light-matter interaction processes via modified local density of electromagnetic states. In typical scenarios, where nanosecond-scale fluorescent processes are involved, mechanical conformational changes of the environment during the interaction processes can be safely neglected. However, slow decaying phosphorescent complexes (e.g., lanthanides) can efficiently probe micro-and millisecond scale motion via near-field interactions with nearby structures. As the result, lifetime statistics can inherit information about nanoscale mechanical motion.
▪PHYSICAL REVIEW B 101, 035420 (2020)
▪Laser Photonics Rev. 12 (9) (2018)
Quantum Nano-Electrodynamics beyond Classical Material Parameters
Light-matter interaction processes are significantly affected by surrounding electromagnetic environment. Dielectric materials are usually introduced into an interaction picture via their classical properties, e.g. permittivity, appearing in constitutive relations. While this approach was proven to be applicable in many occasions, it might face limitations when an emitter is situated very close to a material boundary. In this case nonlocal extend of a quantum wave function of an emitter becomes comparable with a distance to a boundary and a lattice constant of a material. We develop models, capable to address different phenomena, inspired by nanostructuring.
▪ACS Photonics 4, 9, 2137–2143 (2017).
▪Reviews in Physics, 1, 120–139 (2016).
▪ACS Nano 7, 4334–4342 (2013)
