Lu Jinsheng, Yang Hangbo, Zhou Lina, Yang Yuanqing, Luo Si, Li Qiang, Qiu Min
State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, 310027 Hangzhou, China.
Phys Rev Lett. 2017 Jan 27;118(4):043601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.043601. Epub 2017 Jan 23.
Optical force, coming from momentum exchange during light-matter interactions, has been widely utilized to manipulate microscopic objects, though mostly in vacuum or in liquids. By contrast, due to the light-induced thermal effect, photophoretic force provides an alternative and effective way to transport light-absorbing particles in ambient gases. However, in most cases these forces work independently. Here, by employing the synergy of optical force and photophoretic force, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a configuration which can drive a micron-size metallic plate moving back and forth on a tapered fiber with supercontinuum light in ambient air. Optical pulling and oscillation of the metallic plate are experimentally realized. The results might open exhilarating possibilities in applications of optical driving and energy conversion.
光力源于光与物质相互作用过程中的动量交换，已被广泛用于操控微观物体，不过大多是在真空或液体环境中。相比之下，由于光致热效应，光泳力为在环境气体中传输光吸收粒子提供了一种替代且有效的方式。然而，在大多数情况下，这些力是独立起作用的。在此，通过利用光力和光泳力的协同作用，我们提出并通过实验证明了一种配置，该配置能够在环境空气中利用超连续谱光驱动一个微米级金属板在锥形光纤上来回移动。实验实现了金属板的光牵引和振荡。这些结果可能会为光驱动和能量转换的应用开启令人振奋的可能性。
