Coupling of light into mechanical work for generating local fluid flows

I will show how, using azobenzene containing surfactant, one can manipulate microparticles and even induce their self-propulsion when trapped at a solid/liquid interface. The physical origin of this genuine behaviour is related to the newly discovered phenomenon of light driven diffusioosmotic flow (LDDO). We will discuss how hydrodynamic forces can be used locally, and as effectively and with the same precision as an optical trap, but retaining the possibility to simultaneously employ large scale flows. We would thus like to establish a general “across scales” hydrodynamic manipulation method for colloidal particles, with as yet unprecedented applications.