Optical torque controlled by elliptical polarization

Abstract

We show theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that highly absorbing particles can be trapped and manipulated in a single highly focused Gaussian beam. Our studies of the effects of polarized light on such particles show that they can be set into rotation by elliptically polarized light and that both the sense and the speed of their rotation can be smoothly controlled.

3 pages, 3 figures

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Optical microrheology using rotating laser-trapped particles
• Optical guiding of absorbing nanoclusters in air
• The optical torque: Electromagnetic spin and orbital angular momenta conservation laws and their significance
• Rotational dynamics of optically trapped polymeric nanofibers
• Negative optical spin torque wrench of a nondiffracting non-paraxial fractional Bessel vortex beam
• Optical measurement of torque exerted on an elongated object by a non-circular laser beam
• Mechanical effects of optical vortices
• Optically Controlled Stochastic Jumps of Individual Gold Nanorod Rotary Motors
• Radiation forces and torques in optics and acoustics
• Optical Micromanipulation of Soft Materials: Applications in Devices and Technologies
• Negative Optical Torque
• Conservation law for angular momentum based on optical field derivatives: Analysis of optical spin-orbit conversion
• Non-intuitive Computational Optimization of Illumination Patterns for Maximum Optical Force and Torque