Related papers: Orientation of optically trapped nonspherical bire…

A key element in the generation of optical torque in optical traps, which occurs when electromagnetic angular momentum is transferred from the trapping beam to the trapped particle by scattering, is the symmetries of the scattering particle…

Micron sized, neutral, non-dielectric particles immersed in a viscous fluid can be trapped in the focal plane of a Gaussian beam. A particle can absorb energy from such a beam with a large radial intensity gradient, resulting in substantial…

The motion of neutral, polarizable atoms (also called neutral particles in this work) in the field of the Bessel beam is considered. It is shown in the numerical way, that the Bessel rings, i.e., the regions of high energy concentration can…

Near-field patterns of light provide a way to optically trap, deliver and sort single nanoscopic particles in a wide variety of applications in nanophotonics, microbiology and nanotechnology. Using rigorous electromagnetic theory, we…

Optically levitated dielectric nanoparticles have become valuable tools for precision sensing and quantum optomechanical experiments. To predict the dynamic properties of a particle trapped in an optical tweezer with high fidelity, a tool…

The Airy array beams are attractive for optical manipulation of particles owing to their non-diffraction and auto-focusing properties. An Airy array beams is composed of $N$ Airy beams which accelerate mutually and symmetrically in opposite…

Optical and acoustical trapping has been established as a tool for holding and moving microscopic particles suspended in a liquid in a contact-free and non-invasive manner. Opposed to standard microscopic imaging where the probe is fixated,…

We describe results of measurements of the orientational motion of glass microrods in a microchannel flow, following the orientational motion of particles with different shapes. We determine how the orientational dynamics depends on the…

We present a method to measure the optical torque applied to particles of arbitrary shape held in an optical trap, inferred from the change of angular momentum of light induced by the particle. All torque components can be determined from a…

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…

We demonstrate a new method for determining the radius of micron-sized particles trapped by a vortex laser beam. The technique is based on measuring the rotation experienced by the center of mass of a microsphere that is laterally displaced…

We report for the first time the theory of optical tweezers of spherical dielectric particles embedded in a chiral medium. We develop a partial-wave (Mie) expansion to calculate the optical force acting on a dielectric microsphere…

Optical tweezers have become a powerful tool for measuring parameters of microscale and nanoscale local environments. Motion of particles within optical tweezer traps established itself as a probe for local viscosity, temperature as well as…

In the field of microdroplet manipulation, optical tweezers have been used to form and grow droplets, to transport them, or to measure forces between droplet pairs. However, the exploration of out-of-equilibrium phenomena in optically…

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…

Experimental observations suggest that there are differences between the behavior of particles optically trapped in air and trapped in a liquid phase. We present a modified version of Mie Debye Spherical Aberration theory to numerically…

Birefringence, the polarization-dependent splitting of light in anisotropic crystals, enables diverse optical phenomena and advanced functionalities such as optical communication, nonlinear optics, and quantum optics. However, conventional…

There exist two well established methods to trap charged particles: the Penning trap and the Paul trap. The subject of this article is to present a third mechanism for trapping charged particles - trapping by beams of electromagnetic…

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…

Non-invasive optical manipulation of particles has emerged as a powerful and versatile tool for biological study and nanotechnology. In particular, trapping and rotation of cells, cell nuclei and sub-micron particles enables unique…