Partially coherent fluctuating sources that produce the same optical force as a laser beam.

Inspired by a theory previously derived by Wolf and Collett [Opt. Commun. 25, 293 (1978)], we demonstrate that partially coherent Gaussian-Schell model fluctuating sources (GSMS) produce exactly the same optical forces as a fully coherent laser beam. We also show that this kind of source helps to control the magnitude of the light-matter mechanical interaction in biological samples, which are sensitive to thermal heating induced by higher intensities. The latter is a consequence of the fact that the same photonic force can be obtained with a low-intensity GSMS as with a high-intensity laser beam.