Particle trapping and conveying using an optical Archimedes’ screw

Abstract

Trapping and manipulation of particles using laser beams has become an important tool in diverse fields of research. In recent years, particular interest is given to the problem of conveying optically trapped particles over extended distances either down or upstream the direction of the photons momentum flow. Here, we propose and demonstrate experimentally an optical analogue of the famous Archimedes' screw where the rotation of a helical-intensity beam is transferred to the axial motion of optically-trapped micro-meter scale airborne carbon based particles. With this optical screw, particles were easily conveyed with controlled velocity and direction, upstream or downstream the optical flow, over a distance of half a centimeter. Our results offer a very simple optical conveyor that could be adapted to a wide range of optical trapping scenarios.

Dynamic spatiotemporal beams that combine two independent and controllable orbital-angular-momenta using multiple optical-frequency-comb lines

“…These two manifestations of momentum can occur in space during propagation, but yet the beam's intensity will appear static at any given point of propagation distance [18][19][20][21][22] . This scenario can be made more complex by enabling the generation and propagation of a dynamic spatiotemporal beam, such that the beam simultaneously revolves and rotates in the x-y plane in time at a given propagation distance z.…”

“…This scenario can be made more complex by enabling the generation and propagation of a dynamic spatiotemporal beam, such that the beam simultaneously revolves and rotates in the x-y plane in time at a given propagation distance z. Prior art has produced novel beams by combining different modes not only on the same frequency [18][19][20][21][22] but also on different frequencies [12][13][14][23][24][25][26][27] . This ability to produce different modes on different frequencies can be achieved by the use of optical-frequency combs, which have recently undergone much advancement 28 .…”

Strategies for Optical Trapping in Biological Samples: Aiming at Microrobotic Surgeons

“…Shaping a Gaussian beam into two stripe‐like elongated beams with opposite transverse momenta was recently used to generate “tug‐of‐war” tweezers . An optical Archimedes’ screw was recently reported by Hadad et al . An optical twister, a diffracting beam with a spiral profile on both the amplitude and phase of the beam, was reported by our group .…”

Realization of Free‐Space Long‐Distance Self‐Healing Bessel Beams

“…Although experimentally generated Bessel beams are still far away from their theoretical counterparts, they already find use in various applications, such as optical particle manipulation, atomic dipole traps, nonlinear optics, microscopy, material processing, and quantum communication . Moreover, superpositions of Bessel beams are applied for conveyor beams, helicon beams, or general radially self‐accelerating beams .…”