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We present experimental techniques and results related to the optimization and characterization of our nanofiber-based atom trap [Vetsch et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 203603 (2010)]. The atoms are confined in an optical lattice which is…
Optical tweezers have revolutionized particle manipulation at the micro- and nanoscale, playing a critical role in fields such as plasmonics, biophysics, and nanotechnology. While traditional optical trapping methods primarily rely on…
Since the advent of atom laser-cooling, trapping or cooling natural molecules has been a long standing and challenging goal. Here, we demonstrate a method for laser-trapping molecules that is radically novel in its configuration, in its…
Laser trapping near the surface of a nanostructured substrate is demonstrated. Stable microbubbles with radii of 1-20micrometers have been created and manipulated with sub-micron precision by a focused laser beam in an immersion oil…
Optical manipulation has attracted remarkable interest owing to its versatile and non-invasive nature. However, conventional optical trapping remains inefficient for the nanoscopic world. The emergence of plasmonics in recent years has…
We propose a new class of nanoscale electro-optical traps for neutral atoms. A prototype is the toroidal trap created by a suspended, charged carbon nanotube decorated with a silver nanosphere dimer. An illuminating laser field, blue…
We report optical trapping and transport of nanoparticles in a moving interference pattern in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber at atmospheric pressure, when competition between trapping and drag forces causes the particle velocity to…
We present an optical nanotrapping setup that exhibits enhanced efficiency, based on localized plasmonic fields around sharp metallic features. The substrates consist of laser-structured silicon wafers with quasi-ordered microspikes on the…
Optical tweezers, the three-dimensional confinement of a nanoparticle by a strongly focused beam of light, have been widely employed in investigating biomaterial nanomechanics, nanoscopic fluid properties, and ultrasensitive detections in…
Optical levitation of dielectric particles in vacuum is a powerful technique for precision measurements, testing fundamental physics, and quantum information science. Conventional optical tweezers require bulky optical components for…
Non-invasive optical manipulation of particles has emerged as a powerful and versatile tool for biological study and nanotechnology. In particular, trapping and rotation of cells, cell nuclei and sub-micron particles enables unique…
A nanofiber-based optical tweezer is demonstrated. Trapping is achieved by combining attractive near-field optical gradient forces with repulsive electrostatic forces. Silica-coated Fe$_2$O$_3$ nanospheres of 300 diameter are trapped as…
Optical tweezers are powerful tools based on focused laser beams. They are able to trap, manipulate and investigate a wide range of microscopic and nanoscopic particles in different media, such as liquids, air, and vacuum. Key applications…
Forces on a nanoparticle in an optical trap are analysed. Brownian motion is found to be one of the major challenges to trap a nanoparticle. Accordingly, suitable spatial electric field distribution of laser beam is suggested to enhance the…
We analyze evanescent fields of laser written waveguides and show that they can be used to trap atoms close to the surface of an integrated optical atom chip. In contrast to subwavelength nanofibres it is generally not possible to create a…
We investigate nonlinear optical absorption in diamond crystals containing high densities of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers using open-aperture Z-scan measurements with 230 fs laser pulses at 1032 nm, within the transparency window of…
We have investigated a new radiation pressure trap which relies on optical pumping and does not require any magnetic field. It employs six circularly polarized divergent beams and works on the red of a $J_{g} \longrightarrow J_{e} = J_{g} +…
The levitation of condensed matter in vacuum allows the study of its physical properties under extreme isolation from the environment. It also offers a venue to investigate quantum mechanics with large systems, at the transition between the…
We have used a gold nanohole array to trap single polystyrene nanoparticles, with a mean diameter of 30 nm, into separated hot spots located at connecting nanoslot regions. A high trap stiffness of approximately 0.85 fN/(nmmW) at a low…
We describe an atom trapping mechanism based upon differential optical pumping between metastable hyperfine states by partially-displaced laser beams in the absence of a magnetic field. With realistic laser powers, trap spring constants…