Giant Lateral Optical Forces on Rayleigh Particles near Hyperbolic and Extremely Anisotropic Metasurfaces

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates significant enhancement of lateral optical forces on Rayleigh particles near hyperbolic and anisotropic metasurfaces, enabling advanced nanoparticle manipulation techniques across broad frequencies.

Contribution

It reveals how hyperbolic and anisotropic metasurfaces dramatically amplify lateral optical forces through increased density of states and polarization effects, a novel insight for nanoparticle control.

Findings

Giant lateral forces observed near hyperbolic metasurfaces

Enhanced forces occur over broad frequency ranges

Potential for improved nanoparticle routing and trapping

Abstract

We report a dramatic enhancement of the lateral optical forces induced on electrically polarizable Rayleigh particles near hyperbolic and extremely anisotropic metasurfaces under simple plane wave illumination. Such enhancement is enabled by the interplay between the increased density of states provided by these structures and the out-of-plane polarization spin acquired by the particle. The resulting giant lateral forces appear over a broad frequency range and may open unprecedented venues for routing, trapping, and assembling nanoparticles.