Effect of spatial coherence on radiation forces acting on a Rayleigh dielectric sphere

We show that the radiation forces (RFs) on a Rayleigh dielectric sphere induced by a partially coherent light beam are greatly affected by the spatial coherence. We find that the magnitude of the RFs greatly decreases as the spatial coherence decreases and derive an inequality for the required correlation width sigma(0) (i.e., the spatial coherence of the beam) to stably trap the particles.     

Optical manipulation of plasmonic nanoparticles

We investigate numerically the optical forces exerted by an incident light beam on metal nanoparticles (MNP) sustaining the so-called localized surface plasmons (LSP). We first describe how the particle dispersion can be used to tune the respective contribution from extinction and gradient forces. By a suitable adjustment of the illumination conditions, single MNP can be selectively guided, sorted and trapped. The second part of our work investigates the interparticle forces existing within a MNP ensemble. Our results show that MNP located in a conventional optical trap can self-arrange under optical forces according to specific architectures. In particular, at very low distances, they tend to agglomerate into metal clusters leading to very high field concentration in the interstices. PACS 71.45.Gm; 71.36.+c; 87.80.Cc     

Laser cooling of antihydrogen

We present a short review of the essential techniques of cooling free atoms by resonant laser radiation. The different contributions to the light forces are explained and their application to the problem of damping the thermal motion of free atoms is described. Due to quantum mechanical fluctuations of the light force there exists a limit temperature for a given atomic transition. Deceleration of atomic beams by the radiation pressure demands techniques to maintain the resonance condition while the Doppler shift of the decelerated atom is rapidly changing. Radiation forces may serve to compress and deflect slow atomic beams as well as to trap cold atoms. The possible use of pulsed laser radiation is discussed.     

Narrow-line magneto-optical cooling and trapping of strongly magnetic atoms

Laser cooling on weak transitions is a useful technique for reaching ultracold temperatures in atoms with multiple valence electrons. However, for strongly magnetic atoms a conventional narrow-line magneto-optical trap (MOT) is destabilized by competition between optical and magnetic forces. We overcome this difficulty in Er by developing an unusual narrow-line MOT that balances optical and magnetic forces using laser light tuned to the blue side of a narrow (8 kHz) transition. The trap population is spin polarized with temperatures reaching below 2 muK. Our results constitute an alternative method for laser cooling on weak transitions, applicable to rare-earth-metal and metastable alkaline earth elements.     

Femto-Newton light force measurement at the thermal noise limit

The measurement of very small light forces has wide applications in many fields of physics. A common measurement method for small force detection is the determination of changes in the dynamic behavior of mechanical oscillators, either in amplitude or in frequency. The detection of slowly varying forces mostly requires long period oscillators, such as a torsion pendulum. We demonstrate the application of a macroscopic, low-noise, torsion balance oscillator for the detection of radiation pressure forces at the femto-Newton level. The system is "precooled" (removing excess seimic noise) to be only thermal noise limited. The demonstrated force sensitivity reaches the thermal limit.     

Optical forces arising from phase gradients

We demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally that phase gradients in a light field can be used to create a new category of optical traps complementary to the more familiar intensity-gradient traps known as optical tweezers. We further show that the work done by phase-gradient forces is path dependent and briefly discuss some ramifications of this nonconservativity.     

Single gradientless light beam drags particles as tractor beams

Usually a light beam pushes a particle when the photons act upon it. We investigate the optical forces by nonparaxial gradientless beams and find that the forces can drag suitable particles all the way towards the light source. The major criterion of realizing the backward dragging force is the strong nonparaxiality of the light beam, which contributes to the pulling force owing to momentum conservation. The nonparaxiality of the Bessel beam can be manipulated to possess a dragging force along both the radial longitudinal directions, i.e., a "tractor beam" with stable trajectories is achieved.     

Observation of superradiant amplification of ultrashort laser pulses in a plasma

We demonstrate the amplification of a femtosecond signal pulse in an underdense plasma by a novel mechanism called superradiant amplification. The pulse is amplified by a counterpropagating few picosecond long pump pulse. In the superradiant regime, the ponderomotive forces exceed the electrostatic forces and arrange the plasma electrons to reflect the pump light into the signal pulse. We found a significant amplification in energy and intensity. The time structure of the amplified signal pulse carries intrinsic features of the superradiant regime. Sub-10-fs pulses of petawatt power appear feasible.     

Forces between a single atom and its distant mirror image

An excited-state atom whose emitted light is backreflected by a distant mirror can experience trapping forces, because the presence of the mirror modifies both the electromagnetic vacuum field and the atom's own radiation reaction field. We demonstrate this mechanical action using a single trapped barium ion. We observe the trapping conditions to be notably altered when the distant mirror is translated across an optical wavelength. The well-localized barium ion enables the spatial dependence of the forces to be measured explicitly. The experiment has implications for quantum information processing and may be regarded as the most elementary optical tweezers.     

飞秒激光场中原子所受光学偶极力研究

通过求解全波矢布洛赫方程研究了两能级原子与飞秒超快激光脉冲的相互作用过程,计算了不同拉比频率取值下原子所受光学偶极力和粒子数布居随时间的演化情况,分析了光场失谐量对光学势分布情况的影响.研究发现:由飞秒激光场产生的横向光力的时间平均值并不等于零,而是随着拉比频率的增加呈现振荡的增大趋势;纵向光力的时间平均作用也并非是拉比频率的单调函数,而是随着拉比频率的增加呈现周期性的振荡分布特性;光学势的分布对光场的失谐量具有明显的依赖性,随着失谐量的变化,光学势的性质也随之发生了改变.     

Evolution of nuclear spectra with nuclear forces

We first define a series of NN interaction models ranging from very simple to fully realistic. We then present Green's function Monte Carlo calculations of light nuclei to show how nuclear spectra evolve as the nuclear forces are made increasingly sophisticated. We find that the absence of stable five- and eight-body nuclei depends crucially on the spin, isospin, and tensor components of the nuclear force.     

Negative radiation pressure on gain medium structures

We demonstrate negative radiation pressure on gain medium structures, such that light amplification may cause a nanoscale body to be pulled toward a light source. Optically large gain medium structures, such as slabs and spheres, as well as deep subwavelength bodies, may experience this phenomenon. The threshold gain for radiation pressure reversal is obtained analytically for Rayleigh spheres, thin cylinders, and thin slabs. This threshold vanishes when the gain medium structure is surrounded by a medium with a matched refractive index, thus eliminating the positive scattering forces.     

Dark Energy and Electrons

We examine a shell model of the electron once rejected as being inconsistent, in the light of recent work related to dark energy and Casimir forces to show that indeed there is no inconsistency and a stable electron is indeed possible.     

Scattering forces in the focal volume of high numerical aperture microscope objectives

Radiation pressure is not the only source of scattering force in the focal region of a microscope objective. Depending on the numerical aperture and the polarization characteristics of the light at the entrance pupil, the force emerging from the spin density may represent a fundamental contribution to the total force experienced by small (Rayleigh) particles when using high resolution objectives. The predicted and experimentally observed strong asymmetry of the trapping potential for linear polarization is shown to be related to non-conservative spin curl forces. We demonstrate the characteristics of this force field when using linear polarized light with circular and annular pupils and in the radial and azimuthal polarization structures.     

Scattering of an atomic beam by a short light pulse

The observation of the scattering of sodium atoms by a short light pulse (≈ 10^?8 s) is treated. The pulse has the spatial structure of a standing wave. The particles are scattered at the expense of the forces of the stimulated light pressure (gradient forces). In a resonance field of the order of 10³ V/cm, the scattering angle is of the order of 0.01 rad.     

Dye laser model with pump and quantum fluctuations; White noise

We discuss a single mode dye laser model with two stochastically fluctuating forces representing pump and quantum fluctuations. We investigate the different influences of white pump and quantum fluctuations on the statistical properties of the laser light intensity. The corresponding Fokker-Planck equations are solved by means of scalar continued fractions. Stationary as well as instationary properties such as distribution functions, stationary moments, correlation functions, correlation times and transient moments are presented.     

Numerical modeling and theoretical analysis of femtosecond laser tweezers

Optical trapping (also called optical tweezers) is a widespread technique, with a large number of applications in biology and other fields. Taking femtosecond laser pulses as a sampling of CW light, we theoretically demonstrate the feasibility of femtosecond laser tweezers and present the formulae of the induced forces which femtosecond laser pulses exert on micrometer-sized spheres. We also demonstrate the stability condition for femtosecond laser tweezers. As an example, we present the numerical results for a sphere with a radius of 10 mm.     

Optical tweezers of programmable shape with transverse scattering forces

We propose a non-holographic method to create line traps of arbitrary shape in the sample plane. Setting the phase gradient along theses lines gives control over the transverse forces acting on the confined particles. Phase structures, displayed on a spatial light modulator, are optically processed by a spiral phase filter and imaged onto the object plane of a microscope objective. The resulting bright line structures can be used to trap microparticles. Additionally, they exert transverse scattering forces, which can be exploited for inducing orbital motions or for creating “attracting” or “repelling” points, respectively. We give theoretical and experimental evidence that these scattering forces are proportional to the curvature of the line tweezers.     

Theory and physical importance of integrated state multipoles

We consider the polarisation properties of light emitted by heavy atoms after excitation by polarised electrons. It is discussed what information on spin-dependent forces can be obtained from the measurements.