Dynamic size tuning of multidimensional optically bound matter

Oto Brzobohatý; Vítězslav Karásek; Martin Šiler; Pavel Zemánek

doi:10.1117/12.2001101

18 December 2012 Dynamic size tuning of multidimensional optically bound matter

Oto Brzobohatý, Vítězslav Karásek, Martin Šiler, Pavel Zemánek

Proceedings Volume 8697, 18th Czech-Polish-Slovak Optical Conference on Wave and Quantum Aspects of Contemporary Optics; 86970U (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2001101
Event: 18th Czech-Polish-Slovak Optical Conference on Wave and Quantum Aspects of Contemporary Optics, 2012, Ostravice, Czech Republic

Abstract

Optical binding presents an original method for self- arrangement of solid microparticles in liquid or air. The resulting equilibrium positions of the particles in an optically bound structure (OBS) are not only influenced by the spatial intensity profiles of the incident laser beams but also by the light scattered from all the bound particles. The inter-particle distances in OBSs can be externally modified by changing the refractive index of the medium or the spatial intensity distribution of the beams. Especially the last option is now well developed due to the technology of spatial light modulators (SLM). We utilized this tool to generate OBSs in counterpropagating laser beams having various spatial intensity profiles. In contrast to the previous methods, where OBSs were kept stationary without dynamic control, we modified dynamically the optical cage for self-arranged particles which led to enlargement or shrinking of the OBS. Using elaborate optical fields suitable for particular cases we demonstrated the size tunability of OBSs that were self-arranged along one, two or three dimensions. Compressing of the optical cage below a certain limit led to a collapse of the self-arranged micro-structures, thus indicating a phase transitions in such colloidal structures. Within a system of counter-propagating optical vortices we observed transfer of angular momentum of light to two-dimensional OBSs, revolving around the intrinsic on-axis phase singularity of the trapping beams.

Citation Download Citation

Oto Brzobohatý, Vítězslav Karásek, Martin Šiler, and Pavel Zemánek "Dynamic size tuning of multidimensional optically bound matter", Proc. SPIE 8697, 18th Czech-Polish-Slovak Optical Conference on Wave and Quantum Aspects of Contemporary Optics, 86970U (18 December 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2001101

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