Multipole Engineering of Attractive-Repulsive and Bending Optical Forces

TL;DR

This paper explores how multipolar analysis of focused laser beams interacting with high refractive index particles reveals new anti-trapping regimes and enables advanced control of optical forces for micro-assembly.

Contribution

It introduces a multipolar engineering approach to manipulate optical forces, enabling anti-trapping and bending effects beyond traditional gradient and radiation pressure forces.

Findings

Identification of anti-trapping regimes via multipolar analysis.

Revelation of azimuthal and radial force components affecting particle motion.

Linking far-field scattering patterns to optomechanical behavior.

Abstract

Focused laser beams allow controlling mechanical motion of objects and can serve as a tool for assembling complex micro and nano structures in space. While in a vast majority of cases small particles experience attractive gradient forces and repulsive radiation pressure, introduction of additional degrees of freedom into optomechanical manipulation suggests approaching new capabilities. Here we analyze optical forces acting on a high refractive index silicon sphere in a focused Gaussian beam and reveal new regimes of particles anti-trapping. Multipolar analysis allows separating an optical force into interception and recoil components, which have a completely different physical nature resulting in different mechanical actions. In particular, interplaying interception radial forces and multipolar resonances within a particle can lead to either trapping or anti-trapping scenarios, depending of the overall system parameters. At the same time, the recoil force generates a significant azimuthal component along with an angular-dependent radial force. Those contribution enable enhancing either trapping or anti-trapping regimes and also introduce bending reactions. These effects are linked to the far-field multipole interference resulting and, specifically, to its asymmetric scattering diagrams. The later approach is extremely useful, as it allows assessing the nature of optomechanical motion by observing far-field patterns. Multipolar engineering of optical forces, being quite general approach, is not necessarily linked to simple spherical shapes and paves a way to new possibilities in microfluidic applications, including sorting and micro assembly of nontrivial volumetric geometries.