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

Abstract

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.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Mar 10, 2014
Source ID
10.1063/1.4868542

Entities

People

  • Jinda Lin
  • Yong-qing Li

Organizations

  • Army Research Office
  • East Carolina University

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Electrical Engineering

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy