Optical Force and Torque on Dipolar Dual Chiral Particles

TL;DR

This paper analytically investigates the optical force and torque on dual chiral particles with maximal electromagnetic chirality, revealing their unique responses to circularly polarized light, with potential applications in optical sorting and nanorobotics.

Contribution

It provides the first analytical study of optical forces and torques on dual chiral particles with maximal electromagnetic chirality, including a real particle example.

Findings

Dual chiral particles preserve light helicity and respond differently to opposite helicities.

Maximally electromagnetic chiral particles exhibit distinctive force and torque behaviors.

Potential applications include optical sorting and nanorobotics.

Abstract

On the one hand, electromagnetic dual particles preserve the helicity of light upon interaction. On the other hand, chiral particles respond differently to light of opposite helicity. These two properties on their own constitute a source of fascination. Their combined action, however, is less explored. Here, we study on analytical grounds the force and torque as well as the optical cross sections of dual chiral particles in the dipolar approximation exerted by a particular wave of well-defined helicity: A circularly polarized plane wave. We put emphasis on particles that possess a maximally electromagnetic chiral and hence dual response. Besides the analytical insights, we also investigate the exerted optical force and torque on a real particle at the example of a metallic helix that is designed to approach the maximal electromagnetic chirality condition. Various applications in the context of optical sorting but also nanorobotics can be foreseen considering the particles studied in this contribution.