62 research outputs found
Controlled transportation of mesoscopic particles by enhanced spin orbit interaction of light in an optical trap
We study the effects of the spin orbit interaction (SOI) of light in an
optical trap and show that the propagation of the tightly focused trapping beam
in a stratified medium can lead to significantly enhanced SOI. For a plane
polarized incident beam the SOI manifests itself by giving rise to a strong
anisotropic linear diattenuation effect which produces polarization-dependent
off-axis high intensity side lobes near the focal plane of the trap. Single
micron-sized asymmetric particles can be trapped in the side lobes, and
transported over circular paths by a rotation of the plane of input
polarization. We demonstrate such controlled motion on single pea-pod shaped
single soft oxometalate (SOM) particles of dimension around m
over lengths up to 15 m . The observed effects are supported by
calculations of the intensity profiles based on a variation of the Debye-Wolf
approach. The enhanced SOI could thus be used as a generic means of
transporting mesoscopic asymmetric particles in an optical trap without the use
of complex optical beams or changing the alignment of the beam into the trap.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
- …