Optical trapping of nanoparticles by full solid-angle focusing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel optical dipole-trap for nanoparticles using full solid-angle focusing with a parabolic mirror, achieving tight trapping potentials and validating their effectiveness for rod-shaped nanoparticles.

Contribution

It presents a new method for nanoparticle trapping using full solid-angle focusing, demonstrating high trap stiffness and potential for various solid-state targets.

Findings

Successfully trapped rod-shaped nanoparticles.

Validated trapping frequencies match predictions.

Demonstrated high trap stiffness and efficient light-matter interaction.

Abstract

Optical dipole-traps are used in various scientific fields, including classical optics, quantum optics and biophysics. Here, we propose and implement a dipole-trap for nanoparticles that is based on focusing from the full solid angle with a deep parabolic mirror. The key aspect is the generation of a linear-dipole mode which is predicted to provide a tight trapping potential. We demonstrate the trapping of rod-shaped nanoparticles and validate the trapping frequencies to be on the order of the expected ones. The described realization of an optical trap is applicable for various other kinds of solid-state targets. The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility of optical dipole-traps which simultaneously provide high trap stiffness and allow for efficient interaction of light and matter in free space.