ABSTRACT

In the past decade, the development of artificial materials exhibiting novel optical properties has become a major scientific endeavor. One particularly interesting system is synthetic soft matter, which plays a central role in numerous fields ranging from life sciences, chemistry to condensed matter and biophysics. In this paper, we review briefly the optical force-induced nonlinearities in colloidal suspensions, which can give rise to nonlinear self-trapping of light for enhanced propagation through otherwise highly scattering media such as dielectric and plasmonic nanosuspensions. We then focus on discussing our recent work with respect to nonlinear biological suspensions, including self-trapping of light in colloidal suspensions of marine bacteria and red blood cells, where the nonlinear response is largely attributed to the optical forces acting on the cells. Although it is commonly believed that biological media cannot exhibit high optical nonlinearity, self-focusing of light and formation of soliton-like waveguides in bio-soft matter have been observed. Furthermore, we present preliminary results on biological waveguiding and sensing, and discuss some perspectives towards biomedical applications. The concept may be developed for subsequent studies and techniques in situations when low scattering and deep penetration of light is desired.

摘要

在过去的十年中，具有新颖光学特性的人造材料的开发已成为一项重大的科学努力。一种特别有趣的系统是合成软物质，它在从生命科学，化学到浓缩物质和生物物理学等众多领域中都发挥着核心作用。在本文中，我们简要回顾了胶体悬浮液中由光力引起的非线性，这会引起光的非线性自陷，从而通过其他高度散射的介质（如电介质和等离子体纳米悬浮液）增强传播。然后，我们将重点讨论我们在非线性生物悬浮液方面的最新工作，包括在海洋细菌和红细胞的胶体悬浮液中自陷光，其中非线性响应主要归因于作用在细胞上的光学力。虽然通常认为生物介质不能表现出高的光学非线性，但是已经观察到生物软物质中光的自聚焦和类孤子波导的形成。此外，我们提出了有关生物波导和传感的初步结果，并讨论了对生物医学应用的一些看法。在需要低散射和深度穿透的情况下，可以为随后的研究和技术开发该概念。我们介绍了有关生物波导和传感的初步结果，并讨论了对生物医学应用的一些看法。在需要低散射和深度穿透的情况下，可以为随后的研究和技术开发该概念。我们介绍了有关生物波导和传感的初步结果，并讨论了对生物医学应用的一些看法。在需要低散射和深度穿透的情况下，可以为随后的研究和技术开发该概念。