Optical binding in nanoparticle assembly: Potential energy landscapes

Optical binding is an optomechanical effect exhibited by systems of micro- and nanoparticles, suitably irradiated with off-resonance laser light. Physically distinct from standing-wave and other forms of holographic optical traps, the phenomenon arises as a result of an interparticle coupling with individual radiation modes, leading to optically induced modifications to Casmir-Polder interactions. To better understand how this mechanism leads to the observed assemblies and formation of patterns in nanoparticles, we develop a theory in terms of optically induced energy landscapes exhibiting the three-dimensional form of the potential energy field. It is shown in detail that the positioning and magnitude of local energy maxima and minima depend on the configuration of each particle pair, with regards to the polarization and wave vector of the laser light. The analysis reveals how the positioning of local minima determines the energetically most favorable locations for the addition of a third particle to each equilibrium pair. It is also demonstrated how the result of such an addition subtly modifies the energy landscape that will, in turn, determine the optimum location for further particle additions. As such, this development represents a rigorous and general formulation of the theory, paving the way toward full comprehension of nanoparticle assembly based on optical binding

C1,αC^{1,\alpha} regularity of solutions of degenerate fully non-linear elliptic equations

In the present paper, a class of fully non-linear elliptic equations are considered, which are degenerate as the gradient becomes small. H\"older estimates obtained by the first author (2011) are combined with new Lipschitz estimates obtained through the Ishii-Lions method in order to get $C^{1,\alpha}$ estimates for solutions of these equations.Comment: Submitte

Homogeneous spin Riemannian manifolds with the simplest Dirac operator

We show the existence of nonsymmetric homogeneous spin Riemannian manifolds whose Dirac operator is like that on a Riemannian symmetric spin space. Such manifolds are exactly the homogeneous spin Riemannian manifolds $(M,g)$ which are traceless cyclic with respect to some quotient expression $M=G/K$ and reductive decomposition $\mathfrak{g} = \mathfrak{k} \oplus \mathfrak{m}$. Using transversally symmetric fibrations of noncompact type, we give a list of them

All invariant contact metric structures on tangent sphere bundles of compact rank-one symmetric spaces

All invariant contact metric structures on tangent sphere bundles of each compact rank-one symmetric space are obtained explicitly, distinguishing for the orthogonal case those that are K-contact, Sasakian or 3-Sasakian. Only the tangent sphere bundle of complex projective spaces admits 3-Sasakian metrics and there exists a unique orthogonal Sasakian-Einstein metric. Furthermore, there is a unique invariant contact metric that is Einstein, in fact Sasakian-Einstein, on tangent sphere bundles of spheres and real projective spaces. Each invariant contact metric, Sasakian, Sasakian-Einstein or 3-Sasakian structure on the unit tangent sphere of any compact rank-one symmetric space is extended, respectively, to an invariant almost Kahler, Kahler, Kahler Ricci-flat or hyperKahler structure on the punctured tangent bundle

A retarded coupling approach to intermolecular interactions

A wide range of physical phenomena such as optical binding and resonance energy transfer involve electronic coupling between adjacent molecules. A quantum electrodynamical description of these intermolecular interactions reveals the presence of retardation effects. The clarity of the procedure associated with the construction of the quantum amplitudes and the precision of the ensuing results for observable energies and rates are widely acknowledged. However, the length and complexity of the derivations involved in such quantum electrodynamical descriptions increase rapidly with the order of the process under study. Whether through the use of time-ordering approaches, or the more expedient state-sequence method, time-consuming calculations cannot usually be bypassed. A simple and succinct method is now presented, which provides for a direct and still entirely rigorous determination of the quantum electrodynamical amplitudes for processes of arbitrarily high order. Using the approach, new results for optical binding in two- and three-particle systems are secured and discussed

Harmonic G-structures

For closed and connected subgroups G of SO(n), we study the energy functional on the space of G-structures of a (compact) Riemannian manifold M, where G-structures are considered as sections of the quotient bundle O(M)/G. Then, we deduce the corresponding first and second variation formulae and the characterising conditions for critical points by means of tools closely related with the study of G-structures. In this direction, we show the role in the energy functional played by the intrinsic torsion of the G-structure. Moreover, we analyse the particular case G=U(n) for even-dimensional manifolds. This leads to the study of harmonic almost Hermitian manifolds and harmonic maps from M into O(M)/U(n).Comment: 27 pages, minor correction