Related papers: Nonlinearity-induced optical torque
Structured beams of light can move small objects in surprising ways. Particularly striking examples include observations of polarization-dependent forces acting on optically isotropic objects and tractor beams that can pull objects opposite…
Optically coupled nanoparticles suffer the action of multiple electromagnetic forces when they are illuminated by light. In general, two kinds of forces are commonly assumed: binding forces that make them attract/repel each other and…
A photon carries a momentum of, so one may anticipate light to "push" on any object standing in its path via the scattering force. In the absence of intensity gradient, using a light beam to pull a particle backwards is counter intuitive.…
Maxwell noted that light carries angular momentum, and as such it can exert torques on material objects. This was subsequently proved by Beth in 1936. Applications of these opto-mechanical effects were limited initially due to their…
The rotational dynamics of particles subject to external illumination is found to produce light amplification and inelastic scattering at high rotation velocities. Light emission at frequencies shifted with respect to the incident light by…
Spin and orbital angular momentum of light plays a central role in quantum nanophotonics as well as topological electrodynamics. Here, we show that the thermal radiation from finite-sized bodies comprising of nonreciprocal magneto-optical…
A linearly polarized Gaussian beam, carrying zero net spin angular momentum, is conventionally not expected to exert optical torque or induce rotational motion in birefringent microparticles. When such a beam is tightly focused, the…
We experimentally show that the non-separability of polarization and orbital angular momentum present in a light beam remains preserved under scattering through a random medium like rotating ground glass. We verify this by measuring the…
Photons carrying non-zero orbital angular momentum (twisted photons) are well-known in optics. Recently, it was suggested to use Compton backscattering to boost optical twisted photons to high energies. Twisted electrons in the intermediate…
Stokes Raman scattering is known to be a particularly robust nonlinearity, occurring in virtually every material, with spectra defined by the material and strengths dependent on the material as well as light intensities. This ubiquity has…
Interaction of spin and intrinsic orbital angular momentum of light is observed, as evidenced by length-dependent rotations of both spatial patterns and optical polarization in a cylindrically-symmetric isotropic optical fiber. Such…
We consider the optical theorem for scattering of electromagnetic waves in nonlinear media. This result is used to obtain the power extinguished from a field by a nonlinear scatterer. The cases of second harmonic generation and the Kerr…
The optical binding of many particles has great potential to achieve the wide-area formation of a "crystal" of small materials. Unlike conventional optical binding, where the whole assembly of targeted particles is irradiated with light, if…
We propose how to realize nonreciprocity for a weak input optical field via nonlinearity and synthetic magnetism. We show that the photons transmitting from a linear cavity to a nonlinear cavity (i.e., an asymmetric nonlinear optical…
While scattered light conveys most of the information we perceive, scattering may also distort that information before it reaches our detectors. The problem is acute in many applications, such as in high-resolution microscopy of biological…
The angular momentum density and flux of light in a dispersive, rotationally symmetric medium are derived from Noether's theorem. Optical angular momentum in a dispersive medium has no simple relation to optical linear momentum, even if the…
Nonlinear optical generation from a crystalline material can reveal the symmetries of both its lattice structure and underlying ordered electronic phases and can therefore be exploited as a complementary technique to diffraction based…
It has been expected that astronomical observations to detect the orbital angular momenta of electromagnetic waves may give us a new insight into astrophysics. Previous works pointed out the possibility that a rotating black hole can…
When light is transmitted through optically inhomogeneous and anisotropic media the spatial distribution of light can be modified according to its input polarization state. A complete analysis of this process, based on the paraxial…
Nanostructured dielectric metasurfaces offer unprecedented opportunities to control light-matter momentum exchange, and thereby the forces and torques that light can exert on matter. Here we introduce optical metasurfaces as components of…