Conventional optical tweezers based on optical radiation forces (scattering, absorption, and gradient forces) produced by a tightly focused laser beam have been primarily applied to particles with a dimension range from hundreds of nanometers to tens of micrometers. However, they do not always enable us to efficiently trap and manipulate particles at the nanoscale. New technology that significantly reinforces optical radiation at the nanoscale has been strongly desired.

In particular, the interplay between structured light fields (e.g., optical vortices, vector beams, nondiffracted beams, etc.) and structured materials (e.g., metamaterials, plasmonic and photonic crystals, etc.) on a subwavelength scale will yield new effects (e.g., spin-orbital momentum coupling, unconventional opto-mechanical effects, etc.) for advanced optical manipulation. Such structured light-matter interactions will further act as advanced technologies of optical manipulation and enable the fabrication of novel material structures, including chiral structures and laser-induced periodic surface structures.

This special section of the Journal of Nanophotonics will be devoted to the interplay between structured light fields and structured materials on a subwavelength scale.

Topics of interest include the following:

• structured optical fields, including beam shaping, polarization control, pulse shaping, frequency extension, and ultrafast laser technologies
• optical trapping and manipulation, including optical tweezer, holographic optical manipulation, plasmon trapping, multiphoton trapping, and atom trapping and cooling
• advanced devices and instruments, including spatial light modulator, adaptive optics, and near-field optical devices
• structured materials, including metamaterials, and plasmonic and photonic crystals
• applications including structured material processing, single-molecule trapping, biophotonics, metamaterials, quantum communications, and selective control of chemical reaction
• novel approaches, including novel interaction between optical fields and materials on nanoscale, novel regimes of spin-orbit interaction, and quantum control of molecular dynamics.

All submissions will be peer reviewed. Peer review will commence immediately upon manuscript submission, with a goal of making a first decision within 6 weeks of manuscript submission. Special sections are opened online once a minimum of four papers have been accepted. Each paper is published as soon as the copyedited and typeset proofs are approved by the author. Submissions should follow the guidelines of the Journal of Nanophotonics. Manuscripts should be submitted online at https://jnp.msubmit.net.