In this work a method for generating a long-range optical pulling force is presented which is realized by utilizing a vortex beam and a device designed based on transformation optics through conformal mapping. The device works by transforming an input perfect vortex beam into an almost non-paraxial plane wave, and generates a pulling force by maximizing the forward momentum of the beam. A three-dimensional full-wave analysis of the device is performed and the optical force is computed by the Maxwell stress tensor method. The simulation results show a very good agreement with the theoretical calculations.
We derived an analytical formula for the optical force acting on a small anisotropic chiral particle. The behavior of chiral particles is qualitatively different from achiral particles due to new chirality dependent terms which couple mechanical linear momentum and optical spin angular momentum. Such coupling induced by chirality can serve as a new mechanism to achieve optical pulling force. Our analytical predictions are verified by numerical simulations.
Optical pulling forces or tractor beams can pull particles against light propagation by redirecting the incident photons forward. This is typically achieved using Bessel beams with very small half-cone angles, which considerably limits its applicability. One can circumvent such issue by using a superposition of plane waves. In order to investigate optical pulling forces exerted by a pair of non-colinear plane waves, we develop a theoretical framework based on Mie theory, Debye potentials and Wigner rotation matrices. We apply this framework to calculate the optical pulling force on metallo-die…
We analyze how chirality can generate pulling optical forces and left-handed torques by cross-coupling linear-to-angular momenta between the light field and the chiral object. In the dipolar regime, we reveal that such effects can emerge from a competition between non-chiral and chiral contributions to dissipative optical forces and torques, a competition balanced by the strength of chirality of the object. We extend the analysis to large chiral spheres where the interplay between chirality and multipolar resonances can give rise to a break of symmetry that flips the signs of both optical forc…
We demonstrate tunable pulling and pushing optical forces on plasmonic nanostructures around Fano resonance. The plasmonic nanostructure containing a spherical core with optical gain and a metallic shell shows much larger optical pulling force than a pure gain sphere. One can obtain large field enhancement and giant pulling force at the emerged quadrupole mode. The introduction of optical pump compensate the dissipative loss from metal shell, thus enable the strong coupling between a narrow quadrupole mode and a board dipole mode, giving rise to Fano resonance. The giant negative forces origin…
This paper proposes a new method to achieve robust optical pulling of particles by using an air waveguide sandwiched between two chiral hyperbolic metamaterials. The pulling force is induced by mode conversion between a pair of one-way-transport surface-arc waves supported on the two metamaterial surfaces of the waveguide. The surface arcs bridge the momentum gaps between isolated bulk equifrequency surfaces (EFSs) and are topologically protected by the nontrivial Chern numbers of the EFSs. When an incident surface-arc wave with a relatively small wavenumber $k_{x1}$ is scattered by the partic…
We put forward a novel, twofold scheme that enables at the same time all-optical enantioselection and sorting of single multipolar chiral microspheres based on optical pulling forces exerted by two non-collinear, nonstructured, circularly-polarized light sources. Our chiral resolution method can be externally controlled by varying the angle between their incident wavevectors, allowing for a fine-tuning of the range of chiral indices for enantioselection. Enantioselectivity is achieved by choosing angles such that only particles with the same handedness of the light sources are pulled. This pro…
Versatile manipulation of nano- and microobjects underlies the optomechanics and a variety of its applications in biology, medicine, and lab-on-a-chip platforms. For flexible tailoring optical forces, as well as for extraordinary optomechanical effects, additional degrees of freedom should be introduced into the system. Here, we demonstrate that photonic crystals provide a flexible platform for nanoparticles optical manipulation due to both Bloch surface waves (BSWs) and the complex character of the reflection coefficient paving a way for complex optomechanical interactions control. We demonst…
We review the method of producing adiabatic optical micro- and nanofibers using a hydrogen/oxygen flame brushing technique. The flame is scanned along the fiber, which is being simultaneously stretched by two translation stages. The tapered fiber fabrication is reproducible and yields highly adiabatic tapers with either exponential or linear profiles. Details regarding the setup of the flame brushing rig and the various parameters used are presented. Information available from the literature is compiled and further details that are necessary to have a functioning pulling rig are included. This…
We demonstrate both analytically and numerically the existence of optical pulling forces acting on particles located near plasmonic interfaces. Two main factors contribute to the appearance of this negative reaction force. The interference between the incident and reflected waves induces a rotating dipole with an asymmetric scattering pattern while the directional excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) enhances the linear momentum of scattered light. The strongly asymmetric SPP excitation is determined by spin-orbit coupling of the rotating dipole and surface plasmon polariton. As a re…
We discuss the optical forces exerted on parity-time (PT) symmetric heterostructures under normal incidence of a single and two counter-propagating plane waves. The underlying strategy is through generalized parametric space, stemming from consideration of PT-symmetry condition and Lorentz reciprocity theorem. In such a generalized parametric space, we are able to not only exhaustively indicate various PT phases and extraordinary wave phenomena, but also deduce the directionality and magnitudes of optical forces. We find that when the system is illuminated by a normally incident wave, it can e…
The tremendous progress in light scattering engineering made it feasible to develop optical tweezers allowing capture, hold, and controllable displacement of submicronsize particles and biological structures. However, the momentum conservation law imposes a fundamental restriction on the optical pressure to be repulsive in paraxial fields. Although different approaches to get around this restriction have been proposed, they are rather sophisticated and rely on either wavefront engineering or utilize active media. Herein, we revisit the issue of optical forces by their analytic continuation to …
It was recently shown theoretically that it is possible to pull a spherical dielectric body towards the source of a laser beam [Nature Photonics {\bf 5}, 531 (2011)], a result with immediate consequences to optical manipulation of small droplets. Optical pulling can be realised e.g.\ using a diffraction free Bessel beam, and is expected to be of great importance in manipulation of microscopic droplets in micro- and nanofluidics. Compared to conventional optical pushing, however, the radio of optical net force to stress acting on a droplet is much smaller, increasing the importance of oscillati…
We experimentally demonstrate the collective emission behavior and suppressed cavity-pulling effect of four-level active optical clock with Cesium atoms. Thermal Cesium atoms in a glass cell velocity selective pumped with a 455.5 nm laser operating at 6S$_{1/2}$ to 7P$_{3/2}$ transition are used as lasing medium. Population inverted Cesium atoms between 7S$_{1/2}$ and 6P$_{3/2}$ levels are optical weakly coupled by a pair cavity mirrors working at deep bad-cavity regime with a finesse of 4.3, and the ratio between cavity bandwidth and gain bandwidth is approximately 45. With increased 455.5 nm…
Directed high-speed motion of nanoscale objects in fluids (nano swimmers) can have a wide range of applications like molecular machinery, nano robotics, drug delivery, and material assembly. Here, we report ballistic plasmonic Au nanoparticle (NP) swimmers with unprecedented speeds realized by not only optical pushing but also pulling forces from a single Gaussian laser beam. Both the optical pulling and high swimmer speeds are made possible by a unique NP-laser interaction. The Au NP excited by the laser at the surface plasmon resonance peak can generate a nanoscale bubble, which can encapsul…
Optical pulling with tractor beams is so far highly dependent on (i) the property of embedding background or the particle itself , (ii) the number of the particles and/or (iii) the manual ramping of beam phase. A necessary theoretical solution of these problems is proposed here. This article demonstrates a novel active tractor beam for multiple fully immersed objects with its additional abilities of yielding a controlled rotation and a desired 3D trapping. Continuous and stable long distance levitation, controlled rotation and 3D trapping are demonstrated with a single optical set-up by using …
A photon carries a momentum of, so one may anticipate light to "push" on any object standing in its path via the scattering force. In the absence of intensity gradient, using a light beam to pull a particle backwards is counter intuitive. Here, we show that it is possible to realize a backward scattering force which pulls a particle all the way towards the source without an equilibrium point. The underlining physics is the maximization of forward scattering via interference of the radiation multipoles. We show explicitly that the necessary condition to realize a negative (pulling) optical forc…
Laser has become a powerful tool to manipulate micro-particles and atoms by radiation pressure force or photophoretic force, but optical manipulation is less noticeable for large objects. Optically-induced negative forces have been proposed and demonstrated to pull microscopic objects for a long distance, but are hardly seen for macroscopic objects. Here, we report the direct observation of unusual light-induced attractive forces that allow pulling and lifting centimeter-sized light-absorbing objects off the ground by a light beam. This negative force is based on the radiometric effect on a cu…
Propagation of optical vortex beamlet (OVB) in turbulent atmospheric environment is studied theoretically by normalized models. Our simulation shows that optical vortex beamlet is superior to traditional Gaussian beam in terms of diffraction behavior of long haul propagation. Formation of vortex beam let is experimentally demonstrated by using a spatial light modulator (SLM), which achieve a power efficiency of more than 90% when the intrinsic loss in SLM is excluded.
Polygonal Spatiotemporal Optical Vortices Wavepackets with Prescribed Vortex Structure
University of Shanghai for Science and Technology（上海理工大学）；Westlake University（西湖大学）；Pusan National University（釜山国立大学）；Zhejiang Key Laboratory of 3D Micro/Nano Fabrication and Characterization, Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, School of Engineering, Westlake University（西湖大学工程学院电子信息工程系三维微纳加工与表征浙江省重点实验室）；Westlake Institute for Optoelectronics（西湖光电研究院）
Optical vortex beams carry orbital angular momentum and thus exert torque on illuminated objects. A dielectric microtool - a microbarbell - is used in a two-laser optical tweezers to measure the torque of a focused optical vortex. The tool was either freely rotating due to the applied torque or set into oscillations by the counteracting force. Four different trapping configurations provided different ways of sensing the torque and gave consistent results. The value of torque was determined by confronting the experimental results with numerical and analytical models.
With the increasing demand for potential applications in almost all fields in modern optics, the generation of vortex beams has attracted significant interest. Based on a flat plate made of electro-optical crystals, we propose an electrically controlling method to generate vortex beams assisted by the Pockels effect. Compared with traditional methods, our method allows flexibly tuning the wavelength and topological charge of the generated optical vortex beams. We simulate the propagation of optical beams transmitted from the flat plate and investigate the orbital-angular-momentum(OAM)-mode spe…
The comparative numerical and analytical analysis of scintillation indices of the vortex Laguerre-Gaussian beam and the non-vortex doughnut hole and Gaussian beams propagating in the randomly inhomogeneous atmosphere has been performed. It has been found that the dependence of the scintillation index at the axis of the optical vortex on the turbulence intensity at the path has the form of a unit step. It has been shown that the behavior of scintillations in the cross sections of vortex and non-vortex beams differs widely.
Using acoustooptic (AO) cells based on TeO2 crystal and silica glass, we have experimentally shown for the first time that the intensity profile and the phase structure of the vortex beam are preserved under AO Bragg diffraction. As a result, the vortex beam can be deflected due to AO diffraction, whereas the acoustooptically operated vortex beams can be efficiently used in such novel branches of optical technology as optical trapping and controlled addressing of the beams with different orbital angular momentums.
We experimentally generate cylindrically polarized wavepackets with transverse orbital angular momentum, demonstrating the coexistence of spatiotemporal optical vortex with spatial polarization singularity. The results in this paper extend the study of spatiotemporal wavepackets to a broader scope, paving the way for its applications in various areas such as light-matter interaction, optical tweezers, spatiotemporal spin-orbit angular momentum coupling, etc.
Generation of few-cycle optical vortex pulses is challenging due to the large spectral bandwidths, as most vortex generation techniques are designed for monochromatic light. In this work, we use a spiral phase plate to generate few-cycle optical vortices from an ultrafast titanium:sapphire oscillator, and characterize them in the spatiotemporal domain using a recently introduced technique based on spatially resolved Fourier transform spectrometry. The performance of this simple approach to the generation of optical vortices is analyzed from a wavelength dependent perspective, as well as in the…
We propose a rigorous theory for the optical trapping by optical vortices, which is emerging as an important tool to trap mesoscopic particles. The common perception is that the trapping is solely due to the gradient force, and may be characterized by three real force constants. However, we show that the optical vortex trap can exhibit complex force constants, implying that the trapping must be stabilized by ambient damping. At different damping levels, particle shows remarkably different dynamics, such as stable trapping, periodic and aperiodic orbital motions.
Vortex beams are stable solutions of Maxwell's equations that carry phase singularities and orbital angular momentum, unique properties that give rise to many applications in the basic sciences, optical communications, and quantum technologies. Scalable integration and fabrication of vortex beam emitters will allow these applications to flourish and enable new applications not possible with traditional optics. Here we present a general framework to generate integrated vortex beam emitters using photonic inverse design. We experimentally demonstrate generation of vortex beams with angular momen…
Optical vortex beams have been under considerable attention recently due to their demonstrated potential for applications ranging from optical communication to particle trapping. Practical problems related to the dependence between their phase structure and the physical size have been addressed by introducing the concept of perfect optical vortex beams. Propagation of these structured beams through different levels of disturbances is critical for their uses. For the first time, we examine quantitatively the degradation of perfect optical vortex beams after their interaction with localized rand…
Perfect optical vortex (POV) is a type of vortex beam with an infinite thin ring and a fixed radius independent of its topological charge. Here we propose the concept of generalized perfect optical vortex along arbitrary curves beyond the regular shapes of circle and ellipse. Generalized perfect optical vortices also share the similar properties as POVs, such as defined only along infinite thin curves and owning topological charges independent of scales. Notably, they naturally degenerate to the POVs and elliptic POVs along circles and ellipses, respectively. We also experimentally generated t…
We present an experimental method based on a modified multiple beam interference approach to generate an optical vortex array arranged in a spatially varying lattice. This method involves two steps which are: numerical synthesis of a consistent phase mask by using two-dimensional integrated phase gradient calculations and experimental implementation of produced phase mask by utilizing a phase only spatial light modulator in an optical 4f Fourier filtering setup. This method enables an independent variation of the orientation and period of the vortex lattice. As working examples, we provide the…
A novel approach based on the two-channel moiré deflectometry has been used to measure both wave-front and transverse component of the Poynting vector of an optical vortex beam. Generated vortex beam by the q-plate, an inhomogeneous liquid crystal cell, has been analyzed with such technique. The measured topological charge of generated beams are in an excellent agreement with theoretical prediction.
Discretized vortex-producing lenses programmed on low performance spatial light modulators have been used for the generation of optical vortices. However, the description of these vortices has been supported only by numerical simulations. In this work, a general analytical treatment (any topological charge - any discretization levels) for the propagation of a Gaussian beam through a discretized vortex-producing lens is presented. The resulting field could be expressed as a sum of Kummer beams with different amplitudes and topological charges focalized at different planes, whose characteristics…
Fast fabrication of micro-optical elements for generation of optical vortex beams based on the q-plate design is demonstrated by femtosecond (fs) laser ablation of gold film on glass. Q-plates with diameter of ~0.5 mm were made in ~1 min using galvanometric scanners with writing speed of 5 mm/s. Period of gratings of 0.8 micrometers and groove width of 250 nm were achieved using fs-laser ablation at 343 nm wavelength. Phase and intensity analysis of optical vortex generators was carried out at 633 nm wavelength and confirmed the designed performance. Efficiency of spin-orbital conversion of th…
We report the experimental demonstration of the induced polarization-dependent optical vortex beams. We use the Talbot configuration as a method to probe this effect. In particular, our simple experiment shows the direct measurement of this observation. Our experiment can exhibit clearly the combination between the polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM) states of light. This implementation might be useful for further studies in the quantum system or quantum information.
We present the experimental generation and analysis of both the intensity and phase of an optical vortex beam originating from a superposition of Airy-vortex beams. A new theoretical proposal is accessible to generate an array of Airy-vortex beams (AiVBs) from a superposition of N identical AiBs symmetrically located with respect to the propagation axis, where each beam is superimposed with OV and are characterized by the same topological charge l. Additionally, a single experimental apparatus enables both the optical generation and reconstruction of computer-generated holograms implemented on…
One of the challenges for every optical system is preserving the quality of the used beam, which may be significantly reduced, due to the low condition of used optical elements or their misalignment. There are plenty of methods focused on the correction of the final beam, depending on the used entire optical system. The problem of efficient beam evaluation is just as important. So far, most of the measurements, are based on visual inspection, which is not always enough, especially when the high quality of the beam is required. Novel approaches use structured light to increase beam sensitivity …
Mode sorting is an essential function for optical systems exploiting the orthogonality of photonic orbital angular momentum mode space. The familiar log-polar optical transformation provides an efficient yet simple approach, however with its resolution restricted by a considerable overlap between adjacent modes resulting from the limited excursion of the phase along one complete circle around the optical vortex axis that is transformed into a line segment with finite length. We propose and experimentally verify a new optical transformation that maps spirals instead of closed concentric circles…
We propose a new kind of optical vortex called the Hermite-Gaussian-like optical vortex (HGOV) inspired by the crossphase (CP). Theoretically, we investigate how the CP is decoupled from the phase of a cylindrical lens. We also investigate the propagation characteristics of an HGOV, which has a Hermitian-Gaussian-like intensity distribution but still retains the orbital angular momentum. Furthermore, we derive the Fresnel diffraction integral of an HGOV and study the purity at infinity. Besides, we show a novel function of the self-measurement of the HGOV. Finally, we show that we can change t…
The splitting of a high-order optical vortex into a constellation of unit vortices, upon total reflection, is described and analyzed. The vortex constellation generalizes, in a local sense, the familiar longitudinal Goos-Hänchen and transverse Imbert-Federov shifts of the centroid of a reflected optical beam. The centroid shift is related to the centre of the constellation, whose geometry otherwise depends on higher-order terms in an expansion of the reflection matrix. We present an approximation of the field around the constellation of increasing order as an Appell sequence of complex polynom…
The analytical solution for the propagation of the laser beam with optical vortex through the system of lenses is presented. The optical vortex is introduced into the laser beam (described as Gaussian beam) by spiral phase plate. The solution is general as it holds for the optical vortex of any integer topological charge, the off-axis position of the spiral phase plate and any number of lenses. Some intriguing conclusions are discussed. The higher order vortices are unstable and split under small phase or amplitude disturbance. Nevertheless, we have shown that off-axis higher order vortices ar…
Vector optical vortices exhibit complex polarisation patterns due to the interplay between spin and orbital angular momenta. Here we demonstrate, both analytically and with simulations, that certain polarisation features of optical vortex beams maintain constant transverse spatial dimensions independently of beam divergence due to diffraction. These polarisation features appear in the vicinity of the phase singularity and are associated with the presence of longitudinal electric fields. The predicted effect may prove important in metrology and high resolution imaging applications.
In the past decade, optical vortex knots with axial dimensions on the order of $10^2-10^5$ wavelengths ($λ$) have been implemented in the laboratory. However, many potential applications require a drastic reduction on the the size of these knots to the order of $λ$. In this work, we show the first measurement of an optical vortex knot (trefoil) with an axial length of $1.99\, λ$ contained within a volume ($x\times y\times z$) of $1.90\times 2.19\times 1.99 \, λ^3$. Prior to focusing, the laser light is linearly polarized ($x$, horizontal) and we observe the knot in the dominant $x$ polarizatio…
We experimentally demonstrated a high-order optical vortex pulsed laser based on a mode selective all-fiber fused coupler composed of a single-mode fiber (SMF) and a few-mode fiber (FMF). The fused SMF-FMF coupler inserted in the cavity not only acts as mode converter from LP01 mode to LP11 or LP21 modes with a broadband width over 100 nm, but also directly delivers femtosecond vortex pulses out of the mode locked cavity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the generation of high-order pulse vortex beams in mode-locked fiber laser. The generated 140 femtosecond vortex bea…
Vortex crystals are geometric arrays of vortices found in various physics fields, owing their regular internal structure to mutual interactions within a spatially confined system. In optics, vortex crystals may form spontaneously within a nonlinear resonator but their usefulness is limited by the lack of control over their topology. On the other hand, programmable devices used in free space, like spatial light modulators, allow the design of nearly arbitrary vortex distributions but without any intrinsic dynamics. By combining non-Hermitian optics with on-demand topological transformations ena…
