Roadmap on structured light

Structured light refers to the generation and application of custom light fields. As the tools and technology to create and detect structured light have evolved, steadily the applications have begun to emerge. This roadmap touches on the key fields within structured light from the perspective of experts in those areas, providing insight into the current state and the challenges their respective fields face. Collectively the roadmap outlines the venerable nature of structured light research and the exciting prospects for the future that are yet to be realized

Holographic optical tweezers induced hierarchical supramolecular organization

Nanocontainers, i.e. particles at the micro and nano scale that can host guest molecules, are of highest interest for various applications especially in nanoscience and biomedicine. Popular examples are the delivery of phar-maceuticals or active agents to specific cell, nerve or tissue domains or the organization of larger scaffolds of artificial matter by arrangements of nancontainers [1]. While in some applications the precise control of the position of individual nanocontainers is negligible, it becomes most important for hierarchical supramolecular organisation. Here, microporous nanocontainers are loaded with guest molecules that are not covalently bound, but occupy cavities of highest geometrical order, and this order is directly transferred to the molecules. The order can be extended from the molecular to the microscopic scale by arranging and organizing the nanocontainers themselves - usually by self-assembly or by chemical means

Optically driven oscillations of ellipsoidal particles. Part I: Experimental observations

We report experimental observations of the mechanical effects of light on ellipsoidal micrometresized dielectric particles, in water as the continuous medium. The particles, made of polystyrene, have shapes varying between near disk-like (aspect ratio k = 0.2) to very elongated needle-like (k = 8). Rather than the very tightly focused beam geometry of optical tweezers, we use a moderately focused laser beam to manipulate particles individually by optical levitation. The geometry allows us varying the longitudinal position of the particle, and to capture images perpendicular to the beam axis. Experiments show that moderate-k particles are radially trapped with their long axis lying parallel to the beam. Conversely, elongated (k > 3) or flattened (k < 0.3) ellipsoids never come to rest, and permanently “dance” around the beam, through coupled translation-rotation motions....Méthodes avancées pour la caractérisation optique de systèmes particulaires complexesEuropean ITN COMPLOID