Electromagnetic manipulation of sub-500 Da biomolecules

The manipulation of nanoscale matter has the potential to revolutionize a variety of fields across nanoscience and technology. Here, we demonstrate experimentally and characterize numerically a device that combines the benefits of dielectrophoresis (DEP) - long-range and strong trapping forces - with those of plasmonic tweezers - high sensitivities - to achieve a remarkable efficiency in the trapping and sensing of metallic nanoparticles and biomolecules. In particular, we show the DEP trapping and surface enhanced Raman scattering characterization of bovine serum albumin and Rhodamine B, thus extending the applications of tweezing devices to molecules having masses of only a few hundreds of Da. This range covers virtually any molecule relevant for life, from tiny oligopeptides to large proteins. This pushes our manipulation capabilities deep into the realms of efficient single-molecule biosensing and quantum science, providing a powerful platform to probe matter at the nanoscale.