Magneto Second Harmonic Generation of Magnetite Nanowires

Magnetite nanowires are biocompatible which makes them suitable as pharmaceutical payloads for nanomedical applications. Moreover, these nanowires also mechanically respond in the presence of a magnetic field which make them desirable for applications such as MRI contrast agents. When subjected to a magnetic field and irradiated by a laser, it is predicted that these wires could produce magneto second harmonic generation (SHG). To test this hypothesis, magnetite nanowires were created via a hydrothermal synthesis. The magnetite nanowires were then characterized using raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope, and x-ray diffraction to ensure that the produced nanowires are magnetite and not another iron oxide phase. Then a magnetite nanowire was optically trapped with laser tweezers. While trapped, a magnetic field was applied to break the time reversal symmetry of the nanowire. The results should be the trapped magnetite nanowire re-emitting light with half the wavelength of the trapping laser. If SHG is observed with these magnetite nanowires, many improvements in nanomedicine related to high-contrast imaging could be acheived.