Low power laser induced microfluidic mixing through localized surface plasmon.

we present a new optical microfluidic mixing approach via surface tension driven force sustained by the localized surface plasmon (LSP) energy. The phonon energy associated with the non-radiative damping of LSP on an Au nanostructure creates thermal gradients capable of actuating a convective fluid flow. Experimental evidence and modeling results both show that LSP from the Au nanostructure is crucial to establish a temperature gradient with sufficient magnitude to induce the convective flow when using a low-power laser source.