skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Optical trapping and rotation of airborne absorbing particles with a single focused laser beam

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4868542· OSTI ID:22257211
;  [1]
  1. Department of Physics, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858-4353 (United States)

We measure the periodic circular motion of single absorbing aerosol particles that are optically trapped with a single focused Gaussian beam and rotate around the laser propagation direction. The scattered light from the trapped particle is observed to be directional and change periodically at 0.4–20 kHz. The instantaneous positions of the moving particle within a rotation period are measured by a high-speed imaging technique using a charge coupled device camera and a repetitively pulsed light-emitting diode illumination. The centripetal acceleration of the trapped particle as high as ∼20 times the gravitational acceleration is observed and is attributed to the photophoretic forces.

OSTI ID:
22257211
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 10; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English