Related papers: Mechanical effects of optical vortices
Optical trapping, where microscopic particles are trapped and manipulated by light is a powerful and widespread technique, with the single-beam gradient trap (also known as optical tweezers) in use for a large number of biological and other…
Optical vortex beams carry orbital angular momentum and thus exert torque on illuminated objects. A dielectric microtool - a microbarbell - is used in a two-laser optical tweezers to measure the torque of a focused optical vortex. The tool…
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,…
Radiation pressure forces in a focussed laser beam can be used to trap microscopic absorbing particles against a substrate. Calculations based on momentum transfer considerations show that stable trapping occurs before the beam waist, and…
We show theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that highly absorbing particles can be trapped and manipulated in a single highly focused Gaussian beam. Our studies of the effects of polarized light on such particles show that they can…
Low-intensity light beams carrying Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM), commonly known as vortex beams, have garnered significant attention due to promising applications in areas ranging from optical trapping to communication. In recent years,…
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 spin angular momentum in an elliptically polarized beam of light plays several noteworthy roles in optical traps. It contributes to the linear momentum density in a non-uniform beam, and thus to the radiation pressure exerted on…
General Relativistic calculations in the linear regime have been made for electromagnetic beams of radiation known as optical vortices. These exotic beams of light carry a physical quantity known as optical orbital angular momentum (OAM).…
Optical force and torque provide unprecedented control on the spatial motion of small particles. A valid scientific question, that has many practical implications, concerns the existence of fundamental upper bounds for the achievable force…
Light-induced rotation of absorbing microscopic particles by transfer of angular momentum from light to the material raises the possibility of optically driven micromachines. The phenomenon has been observed using elliptically polarized…
Optical trapping and manipulation using laser beams play a key role in many areas including biology, atomic science, and nanofabrication. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate the first use of a vortex-pair beam in optical…
For over three decades, the study of optical vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) has been at the forefront of optics, driven by fundamental questions about optical momentum as well as diverse applications in quantum…
Structured light has emerged as an important tool to interrogate and manipulate matter at micron and sub-micron scale. One form of structured light is an optical vortex beam. The helical wavefront of these vortices carry orbital angular…
Physics of photons and electrons carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) is an exciting field of research in quantum optics and electron microscopy. Usually, one considers propagation of these vortex beams in a medium or external fields and…
Most previous theoretical studies on the optical torque exerted by light on dipolar particles are incomplete. Here we establish the equations for the time-averaged optical torque on dipolar bi-isotropic particles. Due to the interference of…
We consider the manipulation of Bose-Einstein condensate vortices by optical potentials generated by focused laser beams. It is shown that for appropriate choices of the laser strength and width it is possible to successfully transport…
Optically levitated particles have great potential to form the basis of novel quantum- enhanced sensors. These systems are very well suited for inertial sensing, as the particles are isolated from the environment when they are levitated at…
Optical vortices generically arise when optical beams are combined. Recently, we reported how several laser beams containing optical vortices could be combined to form optical vortex loops, links and knots embedded in a light beam (Leach et…
The mechanical action of various kinds of waves has been recognized for several centuries. The first tide of scientific interest in wave-induced forces and torques emerged at the turn of the 20th century, with the development of wave…