Abstract

When a suspension of wavelength-sized polystyrene spheres is illuminated with non-interfering counter-propagating Gaussian beams, the particles self-arrange into a colloidal waveguide (CWG). Mutual force interaction among particles is mediated by scattered light, referred to as the optical binding. We analyzed the longitudinal and lateral motion of particles in such CWGs made of an increasing number of particles with diameters of either 520 or 657 nm. We observed the enhancement of the binding stiffness of neighboring particles by more than an order of magnitude. This enhancement is done by optical means, mainly due to a local increase of optical intensity due to multiple light scattering in an optically bound structure.

© 2019 Optical Society of America

Dielectrophoresis and colloidal phase transitions for ultra-broadband optical limiting

Rittirong Nuansri, Prathan Buranasiri, H. Daniel Ou-Yang, and Ivan Biaggio
Opt. Lett. 44(15) 3801-3804 (2019)

Evanescent wave optical binding forces on spherical microparticles

Xiang Han and Philip H. Jones
Opt. Lett. 40(17) 4042-4045 (2015)

Optically bound colloidal lattices in evanescent optical fields

Xiang Han, Hui Luo, Guangzong Xiao, and Philip H. Jones
Opt. Lett. 41(21) 4935-4938 (2016)

Complex colloidal structures with non-linear optical properties formed in an optical trap

Oto Brzobohatý, Lukáš Chvátal, Martin Šiler, and Pavel Zemánek
Opt. Express 28(25) 37700-37707 (2020)

Optical trapping below the diffraction limit with a tunable beam waist using super-oscillating beams

Harel Nagar, Tamir Admon, Doron Goldman, Amir Eyal, and Yael Roichman
Opt. Lett. 44(10) 2430-2433 (2019)