Related papers: Optical centrifuge for nanoparticles
Optical forces allow manipulation of small particles and control of nanophotonic structures with light beams. Here, we describe a counter-intuitive lateral optical force acting on particles placed above a substrate, under uniform plane wave…
Rotational optical tweezers are used to probe the mechanical properties of unknown microsystems. Quantifying the angular trap stiffness is essential for interpreting the rotational dynamics of probe particles. While methods to determine…
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…
Optical trapping enables precise control of individual particles of different sizes, such as atoms, molecules, or nanospheres. Optical tweezers provide free-space omnidirectional optical trapping of objects in laboratories around the world.…
The use of levitated nanospheres represents a new paradigm for the optomechanical cooling of a small mechanical oscillator, with the prospect of realising quantum oscillators with unprecedentedly high quality factors. We investigate the…
We demonstrate a non-stereoscopic, video-based particle tracking system with optical tweezers to study fluid flow in 3D in the vicinity of glass nanopores. In particular, we used the Quadrant Interpolation algorithm to extend our…
Optically trapped laser-cooled polar molecules hold promise for new science and technology in quantum information and quantum simulation. Large numerical aperture optical access and long trap lifetimes are needed for many studies, but these…
Nanoparticles levitated in an optical trap provide a versatile platform to study mechanical oscillators in a controlled environment with tuneable parameters. Recently, it has become possible to couple two of these optomechanical…
The behavior of a nanodevice based upon double-walled carbon nanotube oscillators driven by periodically applied thermal gradients (7 and 17 K/nm) is investigated by numerical calculations and classical molecular dynamics simulations. Our…
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 propose to introduce additional control in levitated optomechanics by trapping a meta-atom, i.e. a subwavelength and high-permittivity dielectric particle supporting Mie resonances. In particular, we theoretically demonstrate that…
We demonstrate long rotational coherence of individual polar molecules in the motional ground state of an optical trap. In the present, previously unexplored regime, the rotational eigenstates of molecules are dominantly quantized by…
Since the pioneering work of Arthur Ashkin, optical tweezers have become an indispensable tool for contactless manipulation of micro- and nanoparticles. Nowadays optical tweezers are employed in a myriad of applications demonstrating the…
Understanding of material behaviour at nanoscale under intense laser excitation is becoming critical for future application of nanotechnologies. Nanograting formation by linearly polarised ultra-short laser pulses has been studied…
We harness the momentum of light resonating inside a micro-droplet cavity, to experimentally generate micro-flows within the envelope of the drop. We 3D map these optically induced flows by using fluorescent nanoparticles; which reveals…
The ability to trap and to manipulate individual atoms is at the heart of current implementations of quantum simulations, quantum computing, and long-distance quantum communication. Controlling the motion of larger particles opens up yet…
The superposition of frequency-shifted Laguerre-Gauss modes can produce a rotating saddle-like intensity profile. When spinning fast enough, the optical forces produced by this structured light saddle generate a dynamically stable…
We report a capacitance tracking method for achieving arbitrary polarization rotation from nematic liquid crystals. By locking to the unique capacitance associated with the molecular orientation, any polarization rotation can be achieved…
We demonstrate a compact piezoelectric-driven micropipette launcher for localized in-vacuum delivery of nano- and microparticles into optical traps. The launcher has been integrated into multiple optical trapping setups, including a…
Optical levitation of nano-scale systems offers a pathway to highly sensitive rotation measurements, which are critical for advancing gyroscopic technologies. While prior studies have primarily focused on controlling rotational degrees of…