| Issue |
EPL
Volume 100, Number 4, November 2012
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 48005 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | Interdisciplinary Physics and Related Areas of Science and Technology | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/100/48005 | |
| Published online | 04 December 2012 | |
Radiation pressure makes ellipsoidal particles tumble
CNRS, CRPP, UPR 8641 - F-33600 Pessac, France, EU and Univ. Bordeaux, CRPP, UPR 8641 - F-33600 Pessac, France, EU
(a) loudet@crpp-bordeaux.cnrs.fr
(b) pouligny@crpp-bordeaux.cnrs.fr
Received: 3 July 2012
Accepted: 6 November 2012
We report on optical levitation of dielectric particles, of prolate ellipsoidal shape, a few tens of micrometers in length, in a low-aperture laser beam. Ellipsoids of moderate aspect ratio (k < 3) are observed to be trapped on the axis of the laser beam, similarly to simple spheres. Conversely, elongated particles (k > 3) cannot be kept immobile, and rather undergo sustained oscillating motions, comprising both lateral and angular excursions around the beam axis; hence the name “tumble”. The observed tumbling motion, a straightforward manifestation of the non-conservative character of radiation pressure forces, is explained through a 2-dimensional ray optics model of the interaction of light with an ellipsoid.
PACS: 82.70.Dd – Colloids / 42.50.Wk – Mechanical effects of light on material media, microstructures and particles / 87.80.Cc – Optical trapping
© EPLA, 2012
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