1,094 research outputs found
Optically bound microscopic particles in one dimension
Counter-propagating light fields have the ability to create self-organized
one-dimensional optically bound arrays of microscopic particles, where the
light fields adapt to the particle locations and vice versa. We develop a
theoretical model to describe this situation and show good agreement with
recent experimental data (Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 128301 (2002)) for two and three
particles, if the scattering force is assumed to dominate the axial trapping of
the particles. The extension of these ideas to two and three dimensional
optically bound states is also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, incl. 5 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.
Probing protein-protein interactions by dynamic force correlated spectroscopy (FCS)
We develop a formalism for single molecule dynamic force spectroscopy to map
the energy landscape of protein-protein complex (). The joint
distribution of unbinding lifetimes and
measurable in a compression-tension cycle, which accounts for the internal
relaxation dynamics of the proteins under tension, shows that the histogram of
is not Poissonian. The theory is applied to the forced unbinding of
protein , modeled as a wormlike chain, from . We propose a new
class of experiments which can resolve the effect of internal protein dynamics
on the unbinding lifetimes.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev. Let
Coupled Dipole Method Determination of the Electromagnetic Force on a Particle over a Flat Dielectric Substrate
We present a theory to compute the force due to light upon a particle on a
dielectric plane by the Coupled Dipole Method (CDM). We show that, with this
procedure, two equivalent ways of analysis are possible, both based on
Maxwell's stress tensor. The interest in using this method is that the nature
and size or shape of the object, can be arbitrary. Even more, the presence of a
substrate can be incorporated. To validate our theory, we present an analytical
expression of the force due to the light acting on a particle either in
presence, or not, of a surface. The plane wave illuminating the sphere can be
either propagating or evanescent. Both two and three dimensional calculations
are studied.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures and 3 table
Single-particle motional oscillator powered by laser
An ion, atom, molecule or macro-particle in a trap can exhibit large motional
oscillations due to the Doppler-affected radiation pressure by a laser,
blue-detuned from an absorption line of a particle. This oscillator can be
nearly thresholdless, but under certain conditions it may exhibit huge
hysteretic excitation. Feasible applications include a "Foucault pendulum" in a
trap, a rotation sensor, single atom spectroscopy, isotope separation, etc.Comment: 9 pages, 1 fig; v2: the latest revision for Optics Expres
Optical binding of particles with or without the presence of a flat dielectric surface
Optical fields can induce forces between microscopic objects, thus giving
rise to new structures of matter. We study theoretically these optical forces
between two spheres, either isolated in water, or in presence of a flat
dielectric surface. We observe different behavior in the binding force between
particles at large and at small distances (in comparison with the wavelength)
from each other. This is due to the great contribution of evanescent waves at
short distances. We analyze how the optical binding depends of the size of the
particles, the material composing them, the wavelength and, above all, on the
polarization of the incident beam. We also show that depending on the
polarization, the force between small particles at small distances changes its
sign. Finally, the presence of a substrate surface is analyzed showing that it
only slightly changes the magnitudes of the forces, but not their qualitative
nature, except when one employs total internal reflection, case in which the
particles are induced to move together along the surface.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, and 1 tabl
Selective nanomanipulation using optical forces
We present a detailed theoretical study of the recent proposal for selective
nanomanipulation of nanometric particles above a substrate using near-field
optical forces [Chaumet {\it et al.} Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 88}, 123601 (2002)].
Evanescent light scattering at the apex of an apertureless near-field probe is
used to create an optical trap. The position of the trap is controlled on a
nanometric scale via the probe and small objects can be selectively trapped and
manipulated. We discuss the influence of the geometry of the particles and the
probe on the efficiency of the trap. We also consider the influence of multiple
scattering among the particles on the substrate and its effect on the
robustness of the trap.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figure
Influence of non-conservative optical forces on the dynamics of optically trapped colloidal spheres: The fountain of probability
We demonstrate both experimentally and theoretically that a colloidal sphere
trapped in a static optical tweezer does not come to equilibrium, but rather
reaches a steady state in which its probability flux traces out a toroidal
vortex. This non-equilibrium behavior can be ascribed to a subtle bias of
thermal fluctuations by non-conservative optical forces. The circulating sphere
therefore acts as a Brownian motor. We briefly discuss ramifications of this
effect for studies in which optical tweezers have been treated as potential
energy wells.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Resonant radiation pressure on neutral particles in a waveguide
A theoretical analysis of electromagnetic forces on neutral particles in an
hollow waveguide is presented. We show that the effective scattering cross
section of a very small (Rayleigh) particle can be strongly modified inside a
waveguide. The coupling of the scattered dipolar field with the waveguide modes
induce a resonant enhanced backscattering state of the scatterer-guide system
close to the onset of new modes. The particle effective cross section can then
be as large as the wavelength even far from any transition resonance. As we
will show, a small particle can be strongly accelerated along the guide axis
while being highly confined in a narrow zone of the cross section of the guide.Comment: RevTeX,4 pages,3 PS figure
Diffusion of Point Defects in Two-Dimensional Colloidal Crystals
We report the first study of the dynamics of point defects, mono and
di-vacancies, in a confined 2-D colloidal crystal in real space and time using
digital video microscopy. The defects are introduced by manipulating individual
particles with optical tweezers. The diffusion rates are measured to be
Hz for mono-vacancies and
Hz for di-vacancies. The elementary diffusion
processes are identified and it is found that the diffusion of di-vacancies is
enhanced by a \textit{dislocation dissociation-recombination} mechanism.
Furthermore, the defects do not follow a simple random walk but their hopping
exhibits memory effects, due to the reduced symmetry (compared to the
triangular lattice) of their stable configurations, and the slow relaxation
rates of the lattice modes.Comment: 6 pages (REVTEX), 5 figures (PS
Optically controlled grippers for manipulating micron-sized particles
We report the development of a joystick controlled gripper for the real-time manipulation of micron-sized objects, driven using holographic optical tweezers (HOTs). The gripper consists of an arrangement of four silica beads, located in optical traps, which can be positioned and scaled in order to trap an object indirectly. The joystick can be used to grasp, move (lateral or axial), and change the orientation of the target object. The ability to trap objects indirectly allows us to demonstrate the manipulation of a strongly scattering micron-sized metallic particle
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