Scientists at NIST have developed a new device that can measure the motion of super-tiny particles, such as gold nanoparticles, with unprecedented precision. The device works by creating a tiny air gap between the nanoparticle and a gold sheet, and using laser light to detect changes in the width of the gap caused by the nanoparticle’s motion. This technique could have applications in sensing trace amounts of hazardous materials, perfecting the movement of miniature robots, and detecting extremely weak sound waves.
The researchers embedded the gold nanoparticle in a microscopic-scale mechanical structure that vibrates at high frequency. Even though the amplitude of the vibration was tiny, it was easy to detect with the new plasmonic technique. The team’s fabrication approach allows production of some 25,000 of the devices on a computer chip, with each device tailored to detect motion according to the needs of the manufacturer.
Keywords: Nano, Plasmons, Resonators, Nanomechanical, Metrology
