Low-temperature laser-stimulated controllable generation of micro-bubbles in a water suspension of absorptive colloid particles.

A method is described for the generation of micrometer-sized vapor-gas bubbles in a water suspension containing absorptive pigment nanoparticles. The diluted suspension (mean interparticle distance 20 µm) absorbs the continuous laser radiation (wavelength 808 nm), and each particle in the best illuminated volume (~10 × 10 × 200 µm3) serves as a bubble-nucleation center. The suspension heating is inessential (several degrees above the room temperature) and the bubbles are formed mainly of the air gases dissolved in water. The bubbles can stably exist within or near the illuminated area where their location is governed by the competition between thermal and optical forces and can be controlled via the laser beam parameters. The method enables controllable creation, support, prescribed transportation, and destruction of the bubbles. This can be useful in applications aimed at precise sorting, transportation, and delivery of species in nano- and micro-engineering as well as for biomedical studies.

Controllable generation and manipulation of micro-bubbles in water with absorptive colloid particles by CW laser radiation.

Micrometer-sized vapor-gas bubbles are formed due to local heating of a water suspension containing absorptive pigment particles of 100 nm diameter. The heating is performed by CW near-infrared (980 nm) laser radiation with controllable power, focused into a 100 µm spot within a 2 mm suspension layer. By changing the laser power, four regimes are realized: (1) bubble generation; (2) stable growth of the existing bubbles; (3) stationary existence of the bubbles and (4) the bubbles' shrinkage and collapse. This behavior is interpreted based on the temperature conditions. The generation and evolution of single bubbles and ensembles of bubbles with controllable sizes and numbers is demonstrated. The bubbles are grouped within the laser-illuminated region and form quasi-ordered structures. They can easily be moved and transported controlled by the focal spot. The results are useful for applications associated with the precise manipulation, sorting and specific delivery in nano- and micro-engineering problems.

Influence of evanescent wave on birefringent microplates.

Mechanical action caused by the optical forces connected with the canonical momentum density associated with the local wavevector or Belinfante's spin angular momentum is experimentally verified. The helicity-dependent and the helicity-independent forces determined by spin momenta of different nature open attractive prospects for the use of optical structures for manipulating minute quantities of matter of importance in nanophysics, nanooptics and nanotechnologies, precision chemistry and pharmacology and in numerous other areas. Investigations in this area reveal new, extraordinary manifestations of optical forces, including the helicity-independent force caused by the transverse helicity-independent spin or vertical spin of a diagonally polarized wave, which was not observed and exploited up to recently. The main finding of our study consists in a direct experimental demonstration of the physical existence and mechanical action of this recently discovered extraordinary transverse component of the spin here arising in an evanescent light wave due to the total internal reflection of a linearly polarized probing beam with azimuthal angle 45° at the interface between the birefringent plate and air, which is oriented perpendicularly to the wavevector of an evanescent wave and localized over the boundary of the transparent media with polarization-dependent refraction indices.

Measurement of small light absorption in microparticles by means of optically induced rotation.

The absorption parameters of micro-particles have been associated with the induced spin exerted upon the particle, when embedded in a circularly polarized coherent field. The induced rotational speed is theoretically analyzed, showing the influence of the beam parameters, the parameters of the particle and the tribological parameters of the surrounding fluid. The theoretical findings have been adequately confirmed in experiments.

Cement hydration investigation by method of piezoelectric photoacoustics.

The piezoelectric photoacoustics application possibility for polycrystalline structure formation has been considered. The accent was on research and transient modeling with pulse laser irradiation. A mathematical model for the given setup with a single laser impulse was developed. The results of mathematical modeling were experimentally tested on cement samples.

Self-action of continuous laser radiation and Pearcey diffraction in a water suspension with light-absorbing particles.

Water suspension of light-absorbing nano-sized particles is an example of a medium in which non-linear effects are present at moderate light intensities favorable for optical treatment of organic and biological objects. We study experimentally the phenomena emerging in a thin layer of such a medium under the action of inhomogeneous light field formed due to the Pearcey diffraction pattern near a microlens focus. In this high-gradient field, the light energy absorbed by the particles induces inhomogeneous distribution of the medium refraction index, which results in observable self-diffraction of the incident light, here being strongly sensitive to the medium position with respect to the focus. This technique, based on the complex spatial structure of both the incident and the diffracted fields, can be employed for the detection and measurement of weak non-linearities.

Self-diffraction of continuous laser radiation in a disperse medium with absorbing particles.

We study the self-action of light in a water suspension of absorbing subwavelength particles. Due to efficient accumulation of the light energy, this medium shows distinct non-linear properties even at moderate radiation power. In particular, by means of interference of two obliquely incident beams, it is possible to create controllable phase and amplitude gratings whose contrast, spatial and temporal parameters depend on the beams' coherence and power as well as the interference geometry. The grating characteristics are investigated via the beams' self-diffraction. The main mechanism of the grating formation is shown to be thermal, which leads to the phase grating; a weak amplitude grating also emerges due to the particles' displacements caused by the light-induced gradient and photophoretic forces. These forces, together with the Brownian motion of the particles, are responsible for the grating dynamics and degradation. The results and approaches can be used for investigation of the thermal relaxation and kinetic processes in liquid suspensions.

Circular motion of particles suspended in a Gaussian beam with circular polarization validates the spin part of the internal energy flow.

Non-spherical dielectric microparticles were suspended in a water-filled cell and exposed to a coherent Gaussian light beam with controlled state of polarization. When the beam polarization is linear, the particles were trapped at certain off-axial position within the beam cross section. After switching to the right (left) circular polarization, the particles performed spinning motion in agreement with the angular momentum imparted by the field, but they were involved in an orbital rotation around the beam axis as well, which in previous works [Y. Zhao et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 073901 (2007)] was treated as evidence for the spin-to orbital angular momentum conversion. Since in our realization the moderate focusing of the beam excluded the possibility for such a conversion, we consider the observed particle behavior as a demonstration of the macroscopic "spin energy flow" predicted by the theory of inhomogeneously polarized paraxial beams [A. Bekshaev et al, J. Opt. 13, 053001 (2011)].

Laser-radiation scattering by cement in the process of hydration: simulation of the dynamics and experiment.

This paper discusses simulation of speckle-field dynamics during coherent light scattering by a cement surface in the process of hydration. Cement particles are represented by the spheres whose sizes and reflection indices are changing during the hydration process. The study of intensity fluctuations of scattered coherent radiation is a suitable technique for the analysis of both fast and slow processes of mineral binder hydration and formation of polycrystalline structures in the process of hardening. The results of simulation are in good agreement with the experimental data.

Orbital rotation without orbital angular momentum: mechanical action of the spin part of the internal energy flow in light beams.

The internal energy flow in a light beam can be divided into the "orbital" and "spin" parts, associated with the spatial and polarization degrees of freedom of light. In contrast to the orbital one, experimental observation of the spin flow seems problematic because it is converted into an orbital flow upon tight focusing of the beam, usually applied for energy flow detection by means of the mechanical action upon probe particles. We propose a two-beam interference technique that results in an appreciable level of spin flow in moderately focused beams and detection of the orbital motion of probe particles within a field where the transverse energy circulation is associated exclusively with the spin flow. This result can be treated as the first demonstration of mechanical action of the spin flow of a light field.

Investigation of optical currents in coherent and partially coherent vector fields.

We present the computer simulation results of the spatial distribution of the Poynting vector and illustrate motion of micro and nanoparticles in spatially inhomogeneously polarized fields. The influence of phase relations and the degree of mutual coherence of superimposing waves in the arrangements of two-wave and four-wave superposition on the characteristics of the microparticle's motion has been analyzed. The prospects of studying temporal coherence using the proposed approach are made. For the first time, the possibility of diagnostics of optical currents in liquids caused by polarization characteristics of an optical field alone, using nanoscale metallic particles has been shown experimentally.

New feasibilities for characterizing rough surfaces by optical-correlation techniques.

New feasibilities are considered for the optical-correlation diagnostics of rough surfaces with different distributions of irregularities. The influence of deviations of the height surface roughness distribution from a Gaussian probability distribution on the accuracy of optical analysis is discussed. Possibilities for the optical diagnostics of fractal surface structures are shown, and a set of statistical and dimensional parameters of the scattered fields for surface roughness diagnostics is determined. Finally, a multifunctional measuring device for estimating these parameters is proposed.

Experimental revealing of polarization waves.

Stationary and traveling waves of the states of optical polarization are considered in the framework of Jones vector formalism. The feasibility of revealing these waves in holographic and interference arrangements is substantiated and demonstrated.

Optical correlation method for measuring spatial complexity in optical fields.

An analog method for measuring spatial complexity in optical fields generated by randomly phased objects is proposed. The method is used to make a device for high-speed real-time optical field measurements.

Dimensionality in optical fields and signals.

The spatial chaos in optical fields that result from diffraction of plane waves by random-phase objects with a larger-than-unity phase dispersion is studied. An analog method for evaluating the dimension of chaos in the field is described, and a real-time measuring device that uses this method is proposed. A new method for evaluating the signal-to-noise ratios in optical signals is also proposed.

Optical correlation method for studying disperse media.

A new optical correlation method is developed for measuring the scattering-particle size distribution function. The method is based on the transformation of the transverse coherence function of the scattered field that forms the scattering-particle images. A device for measuring the scattering-particle size distribution function is proposed that has a response time of about 10 s and can be applied to measure particles with sizes in the range of 3 to 500 µm to within 10%.

Optical diagnostics of slightly rough surfaces.

The relationship between the statistical structure parameters of a rough surface and the associated correlation parameters of a scattered field is used to develop a method for rough-surface diagnostics. The treatment is based on the model of a random phase object with an inhomogeneity phase dispersion sigma(phi0)(2) < 1. The proposed diagnostic methods are applicable to surfaces with a roughness period comparable to the radiation wavelength employed and the surfaces of a thin plane-parallel plate. The sensitivity limit of the methods in measuring the standard deviation of surface-roughness element heights is ~0.003 microm.

Polarization-interference measurement of phase-inhomogeneous objects.

Phase-inhomogeneous optical crystals, slightly rough surfaces, and turbulence in a liquid are studied by measuring the transverse-coherence function. A new polarization interferometer for measuring the coherence function is suggested that ensures high accuracy of the measurement.

Optical diagnostics of random phase objects.

Possibilities of optical noncontact diagnostics of random phase objects are studied, based on measurements of transverse coherence function, scintillation index, and amplitude and phase dispersion of the field resulting from interaction with the object. The advantages of these methods are increased speed and accuracy compared with commonly used methods. Interference measurements of second-and higher-order correlation parameters of the field phase is demonstrated which can be used to find the corresponding probability density distribution function for objects with phase statistics differing from Gaussian. The sensitivity threshold of the methods is estimated to be ~0.005 microm when measuring surfaces with slight roughness.