title: Confinement of photopolymerization and solidification with radiation pressure.
abstract: Controlling chemical reactions within a small space is a significant issue in chemistry, and methods to induce reactions within a desired position have various potential applications. Here we demonstrate localized, efficient photopolymerization by radiation pressure. We induced a one-photon UV polymerization of liquid acrylate solutions in the optical-trapping potential of a focused near-IR (NIR) laser beam, leading to the confinement of solidification to a minute space with dimensions smaller or equal to one-fifth of the wavelength of the NIR laser. Our approach can produce solidification volumes smaller than those achievable with conventional one-photon polymerization, thus enabling the production of tiny polymeric structures that are smaller than the diffraction limit of the trapping light. This is the first demonstration of a radiation pressure effect on a photochemical reaction.
authors.affiliation: Division of Frontier Materials Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, and Center for Quantum Materials Science under Extreme Conditions, Osaka University, 1-3 Macikaneyama-cho, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan. sito@chem.es.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Syoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Yoshito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: Yukihide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishibashi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miyasaka
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Masuhara