Theory of optical tweezing of dielectric microspheres in chiral host media and its applications.

We report for the first time the theory of optical tweezers of spherical dielectric particles embedded in a chiral medium. We develop a partial-wave (Mie) expansion to calculate the optical force acting on a dielectric microsphere illuminated by a circularly-polarized, highly focused laser beam. When choosing a polarization with the same handedness of the medium, the axial trap stability is improved, thus allowing for tweezing of high-refractive-index particles. When the particle is displaced off-axis by an external force, its equilibrium position is rotated around the optical axis by the mechanical effect of an optical torque. Both the optical torque and the angle of rotation are greatly enhanced in the presence of a chiral host medium when considering radii a few times larger than the wavelength. In this range, the angle of rotation depends strongly on the microsphere radius and the chirality parameter of the host medium, opening the way for a quantitative characterization of both parameters. Measurable angles are predicted even in the case of naturally occurring chiral solutes, allowing for a novel all-optical method to locally probe the chiral response at the nanoscale.

Enantioselective manipulation of single chiral nanoparticles using optical tweezers.

We put forward an enantioselective method for chiral nanoparticles using optical tweezers. We demonstrate that the optical trapping force in a typical, realistic optical tweezing setup with circularly-polarized trapping beams is sensitive to the chirality of core-shell nanoparticles, allowing for efficient enantioselection. It turns out that the handedness of the trapped particles can be selected by choosing the appropriate circular polarization of the trapping beam. The chirality of each individual trapped nanoparticle can be characterized by measuring the rotation of the equilibrium position under the effect of a transverse Stokes drag force. We show that the chirality of the shell gives rise to an additional twist, leading to a strong enhancement of the optical torque driving the rotation. Both methods are shown to be robust against variations of size and material parameters, demonstrating that they are particularly useful in (but not restricted to) several situations of practical interest in chiral plasmonics, where enantioselection and characterization of single chiral nanoparticles, each and every one with its unique handedness and optical properties, are in order. In particular, our method could be employed to unveil the chiral response arising from disorder in individual plasmonic raspberries, synthesized by close-packing a large number of metallic nanospheres around a dielectric core.

Rigorous analysis of Casimir and van der Waals forces on a silicon nano-optomechanical device actuated by optical forces.

Nano-optomechanical devices have enabled a lot of interesting scientific and technological applications. However, due to their nanoscale dimensions, they are vulnerable to the action of Casimir and van der Waals (dispersion) forces. This work presents a rigorous analysis of the dispersion forces on a nano-optomechanical device based on a silicon waveguide and a silicon dioxide substrate, surrounded by air and driven by optical forces. The dispersion forces are calculated using a modified Lifshitz theory with experimental optical data and validated by means of a rigorous 3D FDTD simulation. The mechanical nonlinearity of the nanowaveguide is taken into account and validated using a 3D FEM simulation. The results show that it is possible to attain a no pull-in critical point due to only the optical forces; however, the dispersion forces usually impose a pull-in critical point to the device and establish a minimal initial gap between the waveguide and the substrate. Furthermore, it is shown that the geometric nonlinearity effect may be exploited in order to avoid or minimize the pull-in and, therefore, the device collapse.