Precise Balancing of Viscous and Radiation Forces on a Particle in Liquid-Filled Photonic Bandgap Fiber

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates precise control of micron-sized particles in liquid-filled photonic bandgap fibers using radiation pressure, enabling stable trapping and transport over long distances with potential for chemical and biological studies.

Contribution

It introduces a method for stable particle manipulation in single-mode photonic crystal fibers, overcoming previous limitations of fluctuating fields in multimode fibers.

Findings

Stable trapping of particles against fluid flow achieved.

Particles can be moved over tens of centimeters by adjusting laser power.

Potential for controlled chemical and biological experiments in fiber-based systems.

Abstract

It is shown that, in the liquid-filled hollow core of a single-mode photonic crystal fiber, a micron-sized particle can be held stably against a fluidic counter-flow using radiation pressure, and moved to and fro (over 10s of cm) by ramping the laser power up and down. The results represent a major advance over previous work on particle transport in optically multimode liquid-filled fibers, in which the fluctuating transverse field pattern renders the radiation and trapping forces unpredictable. The counter-flowing liquid can be loaded with sequences of chemicals in precisely controlled concentrations and doses, making possible studies of single particles, vesicles or cells.