Ponderomotive Forces in the System of Two Nanoparticles

Mechanical consequences of electromagnetic interaction of two nanoparticles have been studied theoretically. It has been shown that local field enhancement effect, which causes appearance of the local field gradients, can lead to ponderomotive forces acting on the nanoparticles. Distribution of the local field in the system has been calculated and ponderomotive forces directions and values were evaluated. It has been shown that in the system of two different-sized nanoparticles the forces act mainly on the surface of bigger nanoparticle and for some systems its value may acquire up to several tens of nanonewtons. Possible application of the results to study of biological systems has been also discussed.