CNR-IPCF, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici, 98158 Messina, Italy.
Physics Department, University of Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci, Cubo 33B, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy.
Nat Commun. 2014 Apr 8;5:3656. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4656.
Chirality is one of the most prominent and intriguing aspects of nature, from spiral galaxies down to aminoacids. Despite the wide range of living and non-living, natural and artificial chiral systems at different scales, the origin of chirality-induced phenomena is often puzzling. Here we assess the onset of chiral optomechanics, exploiting the control of the interaction between chiral entities. We perform an experimental and theoretical investigation of the simultaneous optical trapping and rotation of spherulite-like chiral microparticles. Due to their shell structure (Bragg dielectric resonator), the microparticles function as omnidirectional chiral mirrors yielding highly polarization-dependent optomechanical effects. The coupling of linear and angular momentum, mediated by the optical polarization and the microparticles chiral reflectance, allows for fine tuning of chirality-induced optical forces and torques. This offers tools for optomechanics, optical sorting and sensing and optofluidics.
手性是自然界中最显著和有趣的特征之一，从螺旋星系到氨基酸。尽管在不同尺度上存在着广泛的生命和非生命、自然和人工手性系统，但手性诱导现象的起源常常令人困惑。在这里，我们评估了利用手性实体之间的相互作用控制来实现手性光机械的起始。我们通过实验和理论研究了同时对类似球晶的手性微粒子进行光学捕获和旋转。由于其壳层结构（布拉格介电谐振器），微粒子作为全向手性反射镜，产生高度偏振相关的光机械效应。通过光学偏振和微粒子手性反射率介导的线性和角动量的耦合，使得手性诱导光力和力矩可以进行精细调节。这为光机械学、光学分选和传感以及光流体制备提供了工具。
