Moving force of metal particle migration induced by laser irradiation in borosilicate glass.

We optically manipulated a metal particle in borosilicate glass. The glass in the neighborhood of the laser-heated metal particle softened; hence, the metal particle was able to migrate in the glass. In this letter, the driving force of the metal particle toward the light source in the glass provided by laser illumination was investigated. The variation in the surface tension of the glass at the interface between the glass and the metal particle induced by the temperature gradient was calculated via a numerical temperature calculation. It was found that the temperature at the laser-illuminated surface of a stainless-steel particle with a radius of 40 μm was ~320 K higher than that on the nonilluminated side. The force applied to the metal particle from the surrounding glass was calculated to be ~100 μN, which was approximately equal to the viscous resistance force. In addition, the experimental and numerically calculated speeds of the moving particle, which was measured while varying the laser power, are discussed.