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Long-range optical trapping and binding of microparticles in hollow-core photonic crystal fibre.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Bykov, Dmitry S 
Zeltner, Richard 
Machnev, Andrey 
Wong, Gordon KL 

Abstract

Optically levitated micro- and nanoparticles offer an ideal playground for investigating photon-phonon interactions over macroscopic distances. Here we report the observation of long-range optical binding of multiple levitated microparticles, mediated by intermodal scattering and interference inside the evacuated core of a hollow-core photonic crystal fibre (HC-PCF). Three polystyrene particles with a diameter of 1 µm are stably bound together with an inter-particle distance of ~40 μm, or 50 times longer than the wavelength of the trapping laser. The levitated bound-particle array can be translated to-and-fro over centimetre distances along the fibre. When evacuated to a gas pressure of 6 mbar, the collective mechanical modes of the bound-particle array are able to be observed. The measured inter-particle distance at equilibrium and mechanical eigenfrequencies are supported by a novel analytical formalism modelling the dynamics of the binding process. The HC-PCF system offers a unique platform for investigating the rich optomechanical dynamics of arrays of levitated particles in a well-isolated and protected environment.

Description

Keywords

physics.optics, physics.optics

Journal Title

Light Sci Appl

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2095-5545
2047-7538

Volume Title

7

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
This work was supported by Max Planck Society. R. Z. acknowledges funding from the Cluster of Excellence "Engineering of Advanced Materials" at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, Germany.