Microscopic Engine Powered by Critical Demixing.

Journal article

Falko Schmidt, Alessandro Magazzù, Agnese Callegari, Luca Biancofiore, Frank Cichos, Giovanni Volpe
Physical Review Letters, vol. 120(6), 2018 Jan 9

View PDF Journal Webpage

Cite

APA Click to copy
Schmidt, F., Magazzù, A., Callegari, A., Biancofiore, L., Cichos, F., & Volpe, G. (2018). Microscopic Engine Powered by Critical Demixing. Physical Review Letters, 120(6).

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Schmidt, Falko, Alessandro Magazzù, Agnese Callegari, Luca Biancofiore, Frank Cichos, and Giovanni Volpe. “Microscopic Engine Powered by Critical Demixing.” Physical Review Letters 120, no. 6 (January 9, 2018).

MLA Click to copy
Schmidt, Falko, et al. “Microscopic Engine Powered by Critical Demixing.” Physical Review Letters, vol. 120, no. 6, Jan. 2018.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{falko2018a,
  title = {Microscopic Engine Powered by Critical Demixing.},
  year = {2018},
  month = jan,
  day = {9},
  issue = {6},
  journal = {Physical Review Letters},
  volume = {120},
  author = {Schmidt, Falko and Magazzù, Alessandro and Callegari, Agnese and Biancofiore, Luca and Cichos, Frank and Volpe, Giovanni},
  month_numeric = {1}
}

Abstract:
We experimentally demonstrate a microscopic engine powered by the local reversible demixing of a critical mixture. We show that, when an absorbing microsphere is optically trapped by a focused laser beam in a subcritical mixture, it is set into rotation around the optical axis of the beam because of the emergence of diffusiophoretic propulsion. This behavior can be controlled by adjusting the optical power, the temperature, and the criticality of the mixture.

An absorbing microparticle is trapped inside the focus of a laser beam. The induced temperature gradient in the vicinity of its surface induces local demixing that leads to continuous rotations around the center of the trapping beam.