Multifunctional Virus Manipulation with Large-Scale Arrays of All-Dielectric Resonant Nanocavities

Spatial manipulation of a precise number of viruses for host cell infection is essential for the extensive studies of virus pathogenesis and evolution. Albeit optical tweezers have been advanced to the atomic level via optical cooling, it is still challenging to efficiently trap and manipulate arbitrary number of viruses in an aqueous environment, being restricted by insufficient strength of optical forces and a lack of multifunctional spatial manipulation techniques. Here, by employing the virus hopping and flexibility of moving the laser position, multifunctional virus manipulation with a large trapping area is demonstrated, enabling single or massive (a large quantity of) virus transporting, positioning, patterning, sorting, and concentrating. The enhanced optical forces are produced by the confinement of light in engineered arrays of nanocavities by fine tuning of the interference resonances, and this approach allows trapping and moving viruses down to 40 nm in size. The work paves the way to efficient and precise manipulation of either single or massive groups of viruses, opening a wide range of novel opportunities for virus pathogenesis and inhibitor development at the single-virus level.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates a multifunctional virus manipulation technique that enables efficient trapping and manipulation of arbitrary number of viruses. Enhanced optical forces are produced by fine tuning of interference resonances in engineered arrays of nanocavities, allowing trapping and manipulation of viruses as small as 40 nm. This technique opens up new opportunities for studying virus pathogenesis and inhibitor development.