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Optical Tweezers with Tunable Orbital Angular Momentum

Mindaugas Gecevičius, Rokas Drevinskas, Martynas Beresna, Peter G. Kazansky

Published Jan 1, 2014• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate a method of optical vortices generation with continuous orbital angular momentum control. The beam generated with an S-waveplate is used as an optical spanner where the rotation speed of trapped particles can be controlled.
DOI
10.1364/cleo_at.2014.jth2a.32

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Light carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM)---known as vortex beams---has broadened the scope of understanding and applications of light's angular momentum. Optical tweezers using OAM, often referred to as optical spanners, have significantly expanded the tunability of optical manipulation. A key frontier now lies in understanding how vortex beams interact with quantum states of matter. In this work, we numerically investigate the dynamics of a superconductor under vortex beam illumination and demonstrate the transfer of angular momentum from light to the superconducting collective mode, resulting in mechanical rotation. Our findings open a pathway for optical manipulation in the quantum regime, which we term the quantum optical spanner.
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The orbital angular momentum density of Bessel beams is calculated explicitly within a rigorous vectorial treatment. This allows us to investigate some aspects that have not been analysed previously, such as the angular momentum content of azimuthally and radially polarized beams. Furthermore, we demonstrate experimentally the mechanical transfer of orbital angular momentum to trapped particles in optical tweezers using a high-order Bessel beam. We set transparent particles of known dimensions into rotation, where the sense of rotation can be reversed by changing the sign of the singularity. Quantitative results are obtained for rotation rates. This paper's animations are available from the Multimedia Enhancements page.