In OPN’s December “Optics in 2019” review of interesting research, Yuval Yifat and colleagues explored how silver nanoparticle dimers (two-particle units) show unusual motion in an optical field in a ring trap if the particles are of different size. This video (the first of four) shows the behavior of a homodimer (i.e., one where the particles are of the same size).

This video (the second of four) shows the clockwise motion of a heterodimer pair.

This video (the third of four) shows the counterclockwise motion of a heterodimer pair.

This video (the fourth of four) shows the motion of a heterodimer pair of silver “nanostars.”