Related papers: Guiding Trojan light beams via Lagrange points
Some years after the appearance of the so-called non-diffracting beams, there was the development of methods capable of structuring them spatially, being the so called Frozen Waves method the first and, perhaps, the most efficient one. That…
We study the interaction of a light beams carrying angular momentum with a single, trapped and well localized ion. We provide a detailed calculation of selection rules and excitation probabilities for quadrupole transitions. The results…
Holographic optical tweezers use computer-generated holograms to create arbitrary three-dimensional configurations of single-beam optical traps useful for capturing, moving and transforming mesoscopic objects. Through a combination of…
Electrons travelling in free space have allowed to explore fundamental physics like the wave nature of matter, the Aharonov-Bohm and the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect. Complementarily, the precise control over the external degrees of freedom…
New counter-propagating geometries are presented for localising ultracold atoms in the dark regions created by the interference of Laguerre-Gaussian laser beams. In particular dark helices, an 'optical revolver,' axial lattices of rings and…
When propagating through periodically structured media, i. e. photonic crystals, optical waves will be modulated with the periodicity. As a result, the dispersion of waves will no longer behave as in a free space, and so called frequency…
Light can exert forces on objects, promising to propel a meter-scale lightsail to near the speed of light. The key to address many challenges in such an ambition hinges on the nanostructuring of lightsails to tailor their optical scattering…
Super-oscillating beams can be used to create light spots whose size is below the diffraction limit with a side ring of high intensity adjacent to them. Optical traps made of the super-oscillating part of such beams exhibit superior…
The absorption of light by materials is one of the most fundamental processes in optics and condensed-matter physics. Here we investigate whether laser light is absorbed by a crystalline material as an electromagnetic wave or as localized…
Ultralong trapping of light has been observed in an optically dense three-level solid medium interacting with a pair of counterpropagating coupling fields. Unlike the light trapping based on standing-wave gratings excited by the same…
Optical trapping of metallic microparticles remains a big challenge because of the strong scattering and absorption of light by the particles. In the paper, we report a new mechanism for stable trapping of metallic microparticles by using a…
We propose and investigate a new type of optical waveguide made by an array of atoms without involving conventional Bragg scattering or total internal reflection. A finite chain of atoms collectively coupled through their intrinsic…
Absorbing aerosols, such as brown carbon (BrC) and absorbing secondary organic aerosols (SOA), has attracted broad interest due to their importance for climate and human health. The pronounced time-dependence of light absorption during…
Light beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) possess an unbounded set of orthogonal modes, offering significant potential for optical communication and security. However, exploiting OAM beams in space has been hindered by the lack of…
Optical tweezers use laser light to trap and move microscopic particles in space. Here we demonstrate a similar control over ultrashort light pulses, but in time. Our experiment involves temporal cavity solitons that are stored in a passive…
A far-reaching goal of graphene research is exploiting the unique properties of carriers to realize extreme nonclassical electronic transport. Of particular interest is harnessing wavelike carriers to guide and direct them on submicron…
All light has structure, but only recently it has become possible to construct highly controllable and precise potentials so that most laboratories can harness light for their specific applications. In this chapter, we review the emerging…
Guiding electronic waves in a manner similar to photon transmission in optical fibers is key for developing the electron-optics toolbox. Here we outline a `weak guiding' approach, in which efficient diffraction around disorder results in…
An extended interference pattern close to surface may result in both a transmissive or evanescent surface fields for large area manipulation of trapped particles. The affinity of differing particle sizes to a moving standing wave light…
Free-space light beams with complex intensity patterns, or non-trivial phase structure, are demanded in diverse fields, ranging from classical and quantum optical communications, to manipulation and imaging of microparticles and cells.…