Laser shooting single gold nanoparticles - a novel lithographic strategy

We propose a simple and efficient strategy of all-optical deposition of colloidal nanoparticles on arbitrary surfaces. This new method enables the controlled incorporation of single nanoparticles to specific locations on a substrate with a precision of a few tens of nanometers at a single laser beam power well below 1 mW. The deposition technique is based exclusively on optical forces to (i) capture the nanoparticles from the colloidal solution, (ii) shoot them toward the printing position, and (iii) fix them on the substrate through van der Waals attraction. The printed nanoparticles remain immobilized after several steps of drying and rinsing.