Optical manipulation from the microscale to the nanoscale: fundamentals, advances and prospects

D Gao, W Ding, M Nieto-Vesperinas, X Ding… - Light: Science & …, 2017 - nature.com
Since the invention of optical tweezers, optical manipulation has advanced significantly in
scientific areas such as atomic physics, optics and biological science. Especially in the past …

Optical pulling forces and their applications

H Li, Y Cao, LM Zhou, X Xu, T Zhu, Y Shi… - Advances in Optics …, 2020 - opg.optica.org
Optical manipulations utilizing the mechanical effect of light have been indispensable in
various disciplines. Among those various manipulations, optical pulling has emerged …

Gradient and curl optical torques

X Xu, M Nieto-Vesperinas, Y Zhou, Y Zhang… - Nature …, 2024 - nature.com
Optical forces and torques offer the route towards full degree-of-freedom manipulation of
matter. Exploiting structured light has led to the discovery of gradient and curl forces, and …

Creating stable trapping force and switchable optical torque with tunable phase of light

F Nan, X Li, S Zhang, J Ng, Z Yan - Science Advances, 2022 - science.org
Light-induced rotation of microscopic objects is of general interest as the objects may serve
as micromotors. Such rotation can be driven by the angular momentum of light or recoil …

Nanoscale inorganic motors driven by light: Principles, realizations, and opportunities

H Sipova-Jungova, D Andren, S Jones, M Kall - Chemical reviews, 2019 - ACS Publications
The prospect of self-propelled artificial machines small enough to navigate within biological
matter has fascinated and inspired researchers and the public alike since the dawn of …

Inverse optical torques on dielectric nanoparticles in elliptically polarized light waves

Y Shi, T Zhu, AQ Liu, LM Zhou, M Nieto-Vesperinas… - Physical review …, 2022 - APS
Elliptically polarized light waves carry the spin angular momentum (SAM), so they can exert
optical torques on nanoparticles. Usually, the rotation follows the same direction as the SAM …

Non-conservative optical forces

S Sukhov, A Dogariu - Reports on Progress in Physics, 2017 - iopscience.iop.org
Undoubtedly, laser tweezers are the most recognized application of optically induced
mechanical action. Their operation is usually described in terms of conservative forces …

Optical matter machines: angular momentum conversion by collective modes in optically bound nanoparticle arrays

J Parker, CW Peterson, Y Yifat, SA Rice, Z Yan… - Optica, 2020 - opg.optica.org
The creation of optically powered self-assembling nano-to-meso-scale machines that do
work is a long-standing goal in photonics. We demonstrate an optical matter (OM) machine …

Optical manipulation: from fluid to solid domains

Q Jia, W Lyu, W Yan, W Tang, J Lu, M Qiu - Photonics Insights, 2023 - spiedigitallibrary.org
Light carries energy and momentum, laying the physical foundation of optical manipulation
that has facilitated advances in myriad scientific disciplines, ranging from biochemistry and …

Crossover from positive to negative optical torque in mesoscale optical matter

F Han, JA Parker, Y Yifat, C Peterson, SK Gray… - Nature …, 2018 - nature.com
The photons in circularly polarized light can transfer their quantized spin angular momentum
to micro-and nanostructures via absorption and scattering. This normally exerts positive …