Related papers: Capped colloids as light-mills in optical traps
For a long time transverse and longitudinal optical forces are used for non-contact and noninvasive manipulation of small individual particles. The following question arises: What is the impact of these forces on the ensemble of thousand…
We demonstrate an optical system that can apply and accurately measure the torque exerted by the trapping beam on a rotating birefringent probe particle. This allows the viscosity and surface effects within liquid media to be measured…
Particles that can be trapped in optical tweezers range from tens of microns down to tens of nanometres in size. Interestingly, this size range includes large macromolecules. We show experimentally, in agreement with theoretical…
Light interaction with rotating nanostructures gives rise to phenemona as varied as optical torques and quantum friction. Here we reveal that circular dichroism of rotating optically-isotropic particles has an unexpectedly strong dependence…
Appropriate combinations of laser beams can be used to trap and manipulate small particles with "optical tweezers" as well as to induce significant "optical binding" forces between particles. These interaction forces are usually strongly…
We use confocal microscopy to study the motions of particles in concentrated colloidal systems. Near the glass transition, diffusive motion is inhibited, as particles spend time trapped in transient ``cages'' formed by neighboring…
Concentrated colloidal suspensions are a well-tested model system which has a glass transition. Colloids are suspensions of small solid particles in a liquid, and exhibit glassy behavior when the particle concentration is high; the…
Optical trapping is a well_established, decades old technology with applications in several fields of research. The most common scenario deals with particles that tend to be centered on the brightest part of the optical trap. Consequently,…
Axion-like particles (ALPs) rotate the linear polarization of photons through the ALP-photon coupling and convert the cosmic microwave background (CMB) $E$-mode to the $B$-mode. We derive the relation between the ALP dynamics and the…
We present an optical tweezer based study of rotation of microscopic objects with shape asymmetry. Thermal fluctuations and rotations are simultaneously monitored through laser back scattering. The rotation results in a modulation in…
We study a nanofabricated silicon rod levitated in an optical trap. By manipulating the polarization of the light we gain full control over the ro-translational dynamics of the rod. We are able to trap both its centre-of-mass and align it…
In recent years there has been an explosive development of interest in the measurement of forces at the microscopic level, such as within living cells, as well as the properties of fluids and suspensions on this scale, using optically…
The relaxation dynamics of a model fluid of platelike colloidal particles is investigated by means of a phenomenological dynamic density functional theory. The model fluid approximates the particles within the Zwanzig model of restricted…
Surfaces covered with layers of ultrathin nanoantenna structures, so-called metasurfaces, have recently been proven capable of completely controlling phase of light. Metalenses have emerged from the advance in the development of…
Electrical charging of metal surfaces due to photoelectric generation of carriers is of concern in trapped ion quantum computation systems, due to the high sensitivity of the ions' motional quantum states to deformation of the trapping…
The concepts of topology provide a powerful tool to tailor the propagation and localization of light. While electromagnetic waves have only two polarization states, engineered degeneracies of photonic modes provide novel opportunities…
Accessing the ballistic regime of single particles in liquids remains an experimental challenge that shrouds our understanding of the particle-liquid interactions on exceedingly short time scales. We demonstrate the ballistic measurements…
Systems with competing attractive and repulsive interactions have a tendency to condense into droplets. This is the case for water in a sink, liquid helium and dipolar atomic gases. Here, we consider a photon fluid which is formed in the…
Calcium monofluoride (CaF) molecules are loaded into an optical dipole trap (ODT) and subsequently laser cooled within the trap. Starting with magneto-optical trapping, we sub-Doppler cool CaF and then load $150(30)$ CaF molecules into an…
Polar molecules in superpositions of rotational states exhibit long-range dipolar interactions, but maintaining their coherence in a trapped sample is a challenge. We present calculations that show many laser-coolable molecules have…