Dielectric resonant metasurface for multiplexed near-field optical trapping

Optical nanotweezers have revolutionized biological studies with their ability to manipulate cells and characterize single proteins. The next frontier for optical nanotweezers is the trapping of multiple objects to study their heterogeneity. We have investigated a dielectric metasurface supporting high-Q resonance and strong energy confinement, corresponding to strong trapping efficiency. We have verified in simulation that the metasurface, optimized for trapping of 100 nm particles, enables to trap thousands of nanoparticles with a power P < 26mW, confirming its suitability for many biological studies, in particular to study viruses and extracellular vesicles.