Radiation-driven rotational motion of nanoparticles

Focused synchrotron beams can influence a studied sample via heating, or radiation pressure effects due to intensity gradients. The high angular sensitivity of rotational X-ray tracking of crystalline particles via their Bragg reflections can detect extremely small forces such as those caused by field gradients. By tracking the rotational motion of single-crystal nanoparticles embedded in a viscous or viscoelastic medium, the effects of heating in a uniform gradient beam and radiation pressure in a Gaussian profile beam were observed. Changes in viscosity due to X-ray heating were measured for 42 mm crystals in glycerol, and angular velocities of 10(-6) rad s(-1) due to torques of 10(-24) N m were measured for 340 nm crystals in a colloidal gel matrix. These results show the ability to quantify small forces using rotation motion of tracer particles.