Writing in Photorefractive Crystals by Bio-Lenses

All-optical activation of electric fields in smart materials is a challenging issue for avoiding complex and multiple steps in material processing. Photo-activation of electrodes can be realized in photorefractive (PR) crystals where the interaction with light of suitable wavelength and power generates charge displacements and stable space electric fields. In past years many efforts have been spent for studying PR fields in ferroelectric material such as Lithium Niobate (LN) [1,2] and many applications have been demonstrated for dielectrophoretic (DEP) trapping of microparticles [3,4] and for sensing in microfluidic environment [6,7]. Recently it has been investigated the interaction of such fields with biological samples thus proving its biocompatibility for tissue growth [8] of for biosensing applications [9].