Longitudinal optical force of laser pulses in continuous media

TL;DR

This paper derives analytical expressions for the longitudinal optical force exerted by laser pulses in dielectric media, revealing how pulse duration influences force magnitude and potential for particle manipulation and ablation.

Contribution

It provides new analytical formulas for radiation force and potential in dielectric media, highlighting the impact of pulse duration on force strength and particle confinement.

Findings

Shorter pulses produce larger longitudinal forces.

Longitudinal force can confine particles within pulse envelopes.

Femtosecond pulses can induce ablation in silica by breaking molecular bonds.

Abstract

From long time transverse and longitudinal optical forces are used for non-contact and noninvasive manipulation of small particle. The following question arises: What is the impact of these forces on the continuous media as air and silica. In this work we obtain analytical expressions for radiation force and radiation potential in dipole approximation of laser pulses propagating in dielectric media. The longitudinal force is proportional to the second time derivative of the intensity profile. At fixed initial energy of a laser pulse, as shorter is the pulse as bigger is the force. It is possible the neutral particles in gases and solids be confined in the pulse envelope and to move with group velocity. In silica the longitudinal force of a femtosecond pulse is of few order of magnitude greater than molecular forces. Thus, the ablation in silica can be realized through broken molecular connections.