Tractor beam in micro-scale

0437739 - ÚPT 2015 RIV US eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Brzobohatý, Oto - Karásek, Vítězslav - Šiler, Martin - Chvátal, Lukáš - Čižmár, T. - Zemánek, Pavel
Tractor beam in micro-scale.
19th Polish-Slovak-Czech Optical Conference on Wave and Quantum Aspects of Contemporary Optics (Proceedings of SPIE 9441). Bellingham: SPIE, 2014, 944104:1-8. ISBN 9781628415568. ISSN 0277-786X.
[Polish-Slovak-Czech Optical Conference on Wave and Quantum Aspects of Contemporary Optics /19./. Jelenia Góra (PL), 08.09.2014-12.09.2014]
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-16195S; GA MŠMT(CZ) LO1212; GA MŠMT ED0017/01/01
Institutional support: RVO:68081731
Keywords : laser beam propagation * lasers * particles * photons * radiation * solar sails
Subject RIV: BH - Optics, Masers, Lasers

Following the Keplerian idea of radiative forces one would intuitively expect that an object illuminated by sunlight radiation or a laser beam is accelerated along the direction of the photon flow. Such radiation pressure forms the basis for the concept of solar sail, or laser acceleration of micro-particles. In contrast, a hypothetical optical field known from the realm of science-fiction as the "tractor" beam attracts the matter from large distances against the beam propagation. We present a geometry of such"tractor" beam in micro-scale and experimentally demonstrate how it acts upon spherical micro-particles of various sizes or optically self-arranged structures of micro-particles.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0241255