Related papers: Optical torque controlled by elliptical polarizati…
Optical force can enable precise manipulations of small particles for various applications. It is well known that an isotropic lossless dielectric sphere is only subject to forward optical force under the illumination of an electromagnetic…
We propose an enantioselective scheme to sort homogeneous chiral particles using optical tweezers. For a certain range of material parameters, we show that a highly focused circularly-polarized laser beam traps particles of a specific…
Optical tweezers and optical lattices are making it possible to control small particles by means of electromagnetic forces and torques. In this context, a method is presented in this work to calculate electromagnetic forces and torques for…
We present a detailed theoretical and experimental study of the rotation of the plane of polarization of light traveling through a gas of fast-spinning molecules. This effect is similar to the polarization drag phenomenon predicted by Fermi…
Recent developments in the understanding of optical angular momentum have resulted in many demonstrations of unusual optical phenomena, such as optical beams with orbital angular momentum and transverse spinning light. Here we detail novel…
Thomson scattering of intense laser pulses from relativistic electrons allows us to generate high-brightness and tunable-polarization X/{\gamma}-ray pulses. This paper demonstrates the polarization control of the Thomson scattering source…
We show theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that collapsing elliptically-polarized laser beams experience a nonlinear ellipse rotation that is highly sensitive to small fluctuations in the input power. For arbitrarily small…
Optical control of nanoscale objects has recently developed into a thriving field of research with far-reaching promises for precision measurements, fundamental quantum physics and studies on single-particle thermodynamics. Here, we…
We show how both the ellipticity $\eta$ and degree of polarization $\textit{P}$ influences the extraordinary optical chirality properties of non-paraxial vortex beams. We find that, in stark contrast to paraxial optics and non-vortex modes,…
Sculpting sub-cycle temporal structures of optical waveforms allows one to image and even control electronic clouds in atoms, molecules and solids. Here we show how the transverse spin component arising upon spatial confinement of such…
Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beam has orbital angular momentum (OAM). A particle trapped in an LG beam will rotate about the beam axis, due to the transfer of OAM. The rotation of the particle is usually in the same direction as that of the beam…
Conduction electrons are used to optically polarize, detect and manipulate nuclear spin in a (110) GaAs quantum well. Using optical Larmor magnetometry, we find that nuclear spin can be polarized along or against the applied magnetic field,…
The dynamics of electrons in counter-propagating, circularly polarized laser beams are shown to exhibit attractors whose ability to trap particles depends on the ratio of the beam intensities and a single parameter describing radiation…
The propagation of plane electromagnetic waves in the gravitational field inside a rotating cloud of dark matter is analyzed. Formulas for the deflection and absorption of light, and the rotation of the polarization plane are obtained in…
We describe the mechanism by which a metamaterial surface can act as an ideal phase-controlled rotatable linear polarizer. With equal-power linearly polarized beams incident on each side of the surface, varying the relative phase rotates…
Hypothetical oscillations of probe photons into axion-like particles might be revealed by exploiting the strong fields of high-intensity laser pulses. Considering an arbitrary plane-wave background, we determine the polarization tensor…
Strong laser-induced magnetization of oxygen gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure is achieved experimentally on the sub-nanosecond time scale. The method is based on controlling the electronic spin of paramagnetic molecules by…
We report the experimental observation of the rotation of the polarization plane of light propagating in a gas of fast-spinning molecules (molecular super-rotors). In the observed effect, related to Fermi's prediction of "polarization drag"…
Surface plasmon polaritons carrying orbital angular momentum are of great fundamental and applied interest. However, common approaches for their generation are restricted to having a weak dependence on the properties of the…
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…