Single Molecules Trapped by Dynamic Inhomogeneous Temperature Fields

We demonstrate a single molecule trapping concept that modulates the actual driving force of Brownian motion--the temperature. By spatially and temporally varying the temperature at a plasmonic nanostructure, thermodiffusive drifts are induced that are used to trap single nano-objects. A feedback controlled switching of local temperature fields allows us to confine the motion of a single DNA molecule for minutes and tailoring complex effective trapping potentials. This new type of thermophoretic microbeaker even provides control over a well-defined number of single molecules and is scalable to large arrays of trapping structures.