Tunable photon-recoil forces and negative torque at flat-top beam edges.

ABSTRACT: Tightly focused Gaussian beams are the cornerstone of traditional optical tweezers. Flat-top beams also enable consummate control of particles over a two-dimensional plane. The former depends on the intensity gradient, while the latter the phase gradient. Here we present a promising alternative for micro/nano-manipulation that complement the phase gradient force in a flat-top beam: utilizing the light-recoiling, particle can be reversibly manipulated or trapped, even along directions without phase or intensity gradients. Typically, these photon-recoil forces are dependent heavily on the details of the microscopic structures of matter, thus limiting both their tunability and reversibility. The photon-recoil-based manipulation technique (PMT) we develop utilizes polarization modulation to ex

SUBMITTER: Nan F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12546578 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature