Nonconservative electric and magnetic optical forces on submicron dielectric particles

We present a study of the total force on a small lossless dielectric particle, which presents both an electric and magnetic response, in a optical vortex wave field. We show that the force is a simple combination of conservative and nonconservative steady forces that can rectify the flow of magnetodielectric particles. In a vortex lattice the electric-magnetic dipolar interaction can spin the particles either in or out of the whirl sites leading to trapping or diffusion. Specifically, we analyze force effects on submicron silicon spheres in the near infrared, proving that the results previously discussed for hypothetical magnetodielectric particles can be observed for these Si particles.