Improvement of Transverse Trapping Efficiency of Optical Tweezers

Transverse trapping efficiency of optical tweezers is important in many force measurement applications. For improving the transverse trapping efficiency, we propose a simple scheme in which the Gaussian beam does not fully cover the aperture of the objective. Both experiment and theoretical simulation qualitatively demonstrate the scheme. It is expected that the results will be useful for the design of optical tweezers.     

Optimal beam diameter for lateral optical forces on microspheres at a water-air interface

Optical tweezers with a low numerical aperture microscope objective is used to manipulate the microspheres at the water-air interface. In this letter, we determine the optimal optical trap for the lateral manipulation of microspheres at a water-air interface. The experimental results show that the trapping force is influenced by the expansion of the trapping beam at the back aperture of the objective. The optimal filling ratio of 0.65 is suggested for lateral optical manipulation at the water-air interface. The lateral trapping forces at the water-air interface are theoretically investigated with the ray-optics model. The numerical results show that the lateral trapping forces can be changed by shrinking the diameter of the trapping laser beam. The numerical results are in accordance with the experimental results.     

Shaping super-Gaussian beam through digital micro-mirror device

We have set up a novel system for shaping the Gaussian laser beams into super-Gaussian beams.The digital micro-mirror device(DMD)is able to modulate the laser light spatially through binary-amplitude modulation mechanism.With DMD,the irradiance of the laser beam can be redistributed flexibly and various beams with different intensity distribution can be produced.A super-Gaussian beam has been successfully shaped from the Gaussian beam with the use of DMD.This technique will be widely applied in lithography,quantum emulation and holographic optical tweezers which require precise control of beam profile.     

Improvement of the axial trapping effect using azimuthally polarised trapping beam

A dual optical tweezers system,which consists of a doughnut mode optical tweezer (DMOT) with the azimuthally polarised trapping beam and a solid mode optical tweezer (SMOT) with the Gauss trapping beam was constructed to compare the axial trapping effect of DMOT and SMOT.The long-distance axial trapping of ST68 microbubbles (MBs) achieved by DMOT was more stable than that of SMOT.Moreover the axial trapping force measured using the viscous drag method,was depended on the diameter of the particle,the laser power,and the numerical aperture (NA) of the objective lens.The measurement of the axial trapping force and the acquisition of CCD images of trapping effect confirmed that the DMOT showed excellent axial trapping ability than SMOT.A simple and effective method is developed to improve axial trapping effect using the azimuthally polarized beam as trapping beam.This is helpful for the long-distance manipulating of particles especially polarised biological objects in axial direction.     

Analytical structure of Hermite Gaussian beam in far field

Based on the vectorial structure of electromagnetic beam and the method of stationary phase, the analytical structure of Hermite Gaussian beam in far field is presented. The structural energy flux distributions are also investigated in the far field. The structural pictures of some Hermite Gaussian beams are depicted in the far field. As the structure of Hermite Gaussian beam is dominated by the transverse mode numbers and the initial transverse Gaussian half width, it is more complex than that of Gaussian beam. The ratios of the structural energy fluxes to the whole energy flux are independent of the transverse mode numbers and the initial transverse Gaussian half width. The present research reveals the internal vectorial structure of Hermite Gaussian beam from other viewpoint.\     

Manipulation of Nanoparticles Using Dark-Field-Illumination Optical Tweezers with Compensating Spherical Aberration

Based on our previous investigation of optical tweezers with dark field illumination [Chin. Phys. Left. 25（2008）329] nanoparticles at large trap depth are better viewed in wide field and real time for a long time, but with poor forces. Here we present the mismatched tube length to compensate for spherical aberration of an oil-immersion objective in a glass-water interface in an optical tweezers system for manipulating nanoparticles. In this way, the critical power of stable trapping particles is measured at different trap depths. It is found that trap depth is enlarged for trapping nanoparticles and trapping forces are enhanced at large trap depth. According to the measurement, 70-nm particles are manipulated in three dimensions and observed clearly at large appropriate depth. This will expand applications of optical tweezers in a nanometre-scale colloidal system.     

Computer simulation of the collision frequency of two particles in optical tweezers

Optical tweezers have been successfully used in the study of colloid science. In most applications people are concerned with the behaviour of a single particle held in the optical tweezers. Recently, the ability of the optical tweezers to simultaneously hold two particles has been used to determine the stability ratio of colloidal dispersion. This new development stimulates the efforts to explore the characteristics of a two-particle system in the optical tweezers.An infinite spherical potential well has been used to estimate the collision frequency for two particles in the optical trap based on a Monte Carlo simulation. In this article, a more reasonable harmonic potential, commonly accepted for the optical tweezers, is adopted in a Monte Carlo simulation of the collision frequency. The effect of hydrodynamic interaction of particles in the trap is also considered. The simulation results based on this improved model show quantitatively that the collision frequency drops down sharply at first and then decreases slowly as the distance between the two particles increases. The simulation also shows how the collision frequency is related to the stiffness of the optical tweezers.     

Calculation of optical trapping forces on dielectric spheres at an oil-water interface with ray-optics model

The transverse trapping forces on a dielectric sphere located at an oil-water interface are theoretically investigated with the ray-optics model. The transverse trapping forces rely on the internal property of the particle-interface system, and increase with either the decrease of three phase contact angles at the oil- water interface or the use of oil phase with low refractive index. The numerical results also show that the transverse trapping forces can be improved by either decreasing the numerical aperture of the microscope objective or shrinking the diameter of the trapping laser beam.     

Experimental verification on tightly focused radially polarized vortex beams

The theoretical and experimental results of tightly focused radially polarized vortex beams are demonstrated. An auto-focus technology is introduced into the measurement system in order to enhance the measurement precision, and the radially polarized vortex beams are generated by a liquid-crystal polarization converter and a vortex phase plate. The focused fields of radially polarized vortex beams with different topological charges at numerical apertures （NAs） of 0.65 and 0.85 are measured respectively, and the results indicate that the total intensity distribution at focus is dependent not only on the NA of the focusing objective lens and polarization pattern of the beam but also on the topological charge l of the beam. Some unique focusing properties of radially polarized vortex beams with fractional topological charges are presented based on numerical calculations. The experimental verification paves the way for some practical applications of radially polarized vortex beams, such as in optical trapping, near-field microscopy, and material processing.     

Resolution enhancement with improved range Doppler algorithm in high numerical aperture OCT

The improved range Doppler algorithm is proposed to abate the trade-off between resolutions and depth of focus in spectral domain optical coherence tomography.By considering the finite beam width and the shape of the wavefronts produced by the Gaussian beam,a physical diffraction model is presented to simulate the light propagation process in the sample.The two-dimensional processing of the spectrum data is decomposed into two one-dimensional processings of Stolt transform and matched filter.Experimental results show that image reconstruction can be achieved.The transverse and axial resolutions are both improved significantly,especially in the out-of-focus range,and the resolutions are almost equivalent throughout the entire region of interest.     

Improvement of optical trapping effect by using the focused high-order Laguerre-Gaussian beams

We investigate the optical trapping effect of high-order Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams acting on a dielectric sphere in Rayleigh regime. For LG beams with the azimuthal mode index l=0, it is found that under the same input power, the transverse trapping effect can be enhanced several times with increasing the radial mode index p, compared with that of the Gaussian beam; while its axial trapping effect is exactly the same as that of Gaussian beam, although the central trapping region reduces as p increases. For LG beams with l≥1, we find that the maximal transverse gradient forces increase with the increasing of p and the axial radiation forces reduces slightly, therefore an optimal choose on p and l is necessary for obtaining an optimal optical guiding. Our result is useful for analyzing the trapping efficiency of LG beams applied in micromanipulation technologies.     

高斯光束中吸收双层球形微粒的横向光俘获

为了研究吸收双层球形微粒的横向光俘获,基于几何光学模型提出了双层带吸收球形微粒的光俘获模型,对TEM₀₀模式高斯光束照射下外层有光吸收的双层电介质球形微粒受到的横向光俘获力进行了数值模拟,取得了光俘获力特性的一系列结果.结果显示,双层球形微粒的外层吸收系数对包括稳态俘获位置,峰值强度,稳态俘获的刚度等光俘获特性有很大影响.此外,内外径的比率对吸收双层球形微粒的光俘获特性也有调制性的影响.在一定条件下,带吸收的双层球形微粒可以被俘获在光轴上,也可能被俘获在中心在光轴上的圆环上. 关键词： 光俘获 几何光学模型 高斯光束 吸收双层球     

Forces in optical tweezers with radially and azimuthally polarized trapping beams

It has been suggested that radially polarized beams can be used to improve the performance of optical tweezers, with reduced scattering force resulting from both the polarization and the dark center of the beam [Opt. Lett. 32, 1839 (2007)]. We calculate the forces on particles in such traps, using rigorous electromagnetic theory, comparing the results with azimuthally polarized beam, circularly polarized LG 01 beams, and Gaussian beams. Our results agree qualitatively with Opt. Lett. 32, 1839 (2007), but differ quantitatively.     

Phase-transition-like properties of double-beam optical tweezers

We report on double-beam optical tweezers that undergo previously unknown phase-transition-like behavior resulting in the formation of more optical traps than the number of beams used to create them. We classify the optical force fields which produce multiple traps for a double-beam system including the critical behavior. This effect is demonstrated experimentally in orthogonally polarized (noninterfering) dual-beam optical tweezers for a silica particle of 2.32 μm diameter. Phase transitions of multiple beam trapping systems have implications for hopping rates between traps and detection of forces between biomolecules using dual-beam optical tweezers. It is an example of a novel dynamic system with multiple states where force fields undergo a series of sign inversions as a function of parameters such as size and beam separation.     

Multiple bottle beams based on metasurface optical field modulation and their capture of multiple atoms

Compared to conventional devices, metasurfaces offer the advantages of being lightweight, with planarization and tuning flexibility. This provides a new way to integrate and miniaturize optical systems. In this paper, a metasurface capable of generating multiple bottle beams was designed. Based on the Pancharatnam-Berry (P-B) phase principle, the metasurface lens can accurately control the wavefront by adjusting the aspect ratio of the titanium dioxide nanopillars and the rotation angle. When irradiated by left-handed circularly polarized light with a wavelength of 632.8 nm, the optical system can produce multiple micron bottle beams. Taking two bottle beams as examples, the longitudinal full widths at half-maximum of the optical tweezers can reach 0.85 μ and 1.12 μ, respectively, and the transverse full widths at half-maximum can reach 0.46 μ and 0.6 μ. Also, the number of generated bottle beams can be varied by controlling the size of the annular obstacle. By changing the x-component of the unit rotation angle, the metasurface can also change the shape of the bottle beam — the beam cross-section can be changed from circular to elliptical. This paper also analyzes the trapping of ytterbium atoms by the multi bottle beam acting as optical tweezers. It is found that the multi bottle beam can cool and trap multiple ytterbium atoms.     

光学微操纵过程的轴平面显微成像技术

光学俘获技术利用光与物质相互作用产生的光势阱效应来实现对微粒的操控,已经成功应用于生物医学、材料科学等交叉领域.在对微粒进行三维俘获时,传统的宽场光学显微技术只能观测到某一平面内微粒的横向运动,对微粒沿轴向运动的观测受到很大限制.本文将轴平面显微成像技术引入光学微粒操控研究中,利用45?倾斜的反射镜把微粒的轴向运动信息转换到横向平面进行观测,与传统宽场显微成像技术相结合,实现了对二氧化硅小球俘获过程横向和轴向运动的同步观测.该成像方法无需扫描和数据重构,具有实时快速等优点,在新型光束光镊、厚样品三维观测和成像等领域具有潜在的应用价值.     

Optical trapping of gold nanoparticles by cylindrical vector beam

Optical trapping of gold nanoparticles is experimentally demonstrated using radially and azimuthally polarized beams. The transverse optical trapping stiffness of gold nanoparticles is measured. The radially polarized beam exhibits a higher trapping efficiency than the azimuthally polarized beam and the Gaussian beam. The transverse stiffness of particles with different diameters is measured experimentally and calculated via the discrete-dipole approximation method, and good agreement between theory and experiment is found.     

时域有限差分法数值仿真单光镊中微球受到的光阱力

本文采用三维时域有限差分法(FDTD)和Maxwell应力张量法建立了单光镊在焦点附近俘获球形微粒的光阱力模型,采用基于球矢量波函数(VSWF)的五阶高斯光源作为仿真光源,得到了准确的光场传播.讨论了光源的波长、束腰、偏振态和微球的半径、折射率对光阱力的影响,分析了在单光镊俘获微球时,邻近微球对光阱力的影响.特别研究了光源的偏振态对微球所受光阱力的作用效果,仿真结果表明圆偏振光比线偏振光对微球的俘获力更大;被光镊稳定俘获的微球,会受到邻近微球干扰,失去平衡状态,改变光源的偏振态可以改变微球的受力状态. 关键词： 光镊 光阱力 介质微球 时域有限差分法(FDTD)     

Theoretical comparison of optical traps created by standing wave and single beam

We used generalised Lorenz–Mie scattering theory (GLMT) to compare submicron-sized particle optical trapping in a single focused beam and a standing wave. We focus especially on the study of maximal axial trapping force, minimal laser power necessary for confinement, axial trap position, and axial trap stiffness in dependency on trapped sphere radius, refractive index, and Gaussian beam waist size. In the single beam trap (SBT), the range of refractive indices which enable stable trapping depends strongly on the beam waist size (it grows with decreasing waist). On the contrary to the SBT, there are certain sphere sizes (non-trapping radii) that disable sphere confinement in standing wave trap (SWT) for arbitrary value of refractive index. For other sphere radii we show that the SWT enables confinement of high refractive index particle in wider laser beams and provides axial trap stiffness and maximal axial trapping force at least by two orders and one order bigger than in SBT, respectively.