Optical rotation and manipulation of micro-sized LiNbO3 crystals and single-walled carbon nanotubes bundles

In this study, optical rotation of micro-sized birefringent LiNbO3 crystals and an individual yeast cell with optical tweezers were performed. Optical tweezers could manipulate individual micro-sized LiNbO3 crystal onto the surface of single-walled carbon nanotube bundle (SWNTB), which gave a new method to specifically modify SWNTB with optical tweezers. Compared with the usual optical trapping of SWNTB, SWNTB attached by micro-LiNbO3 crystals could be manipulated indirectly by optical tweezers very easily due to the higher dielectric constant of LiNbO3 crystal. This technology provides a possibility to optically assemble SWNTB including metal SWNTB in nanoelectronics.