Recently, Qiannan Jia, a PhD student in Professor Qiu Min's team at WestLake University ，proposed a technique for achieving high-precision optical micro-manipulation on planar solid interfaces. This manipulation technique can drive materials that are originally adhered to the substrate to move in arbitrary direction and with sub-nanometer accuracy within the plane. The work, entitled "Precise and omnidirectional opto-thermo-elastic actuation in van der Waals contacting systems," was published in the international journal Advanced Science.

This research innovatively expands the traditional optical manipulation from the fluid environment to the solid environment, unlocking the potential of optical manipulation, a remote, non-contact micro-nano manipulation technology, in condensed matter physics and integrated optoelectronic device systems. By designing the light field and substrate surface topography, this technology will be endowed with more degrees of freedom of manipulation, which can help researchers explore more physical phenomena in extreme scenarios in the micro-nano world.