Journal
SCIENCE ADVANCES
Volume 3, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1602738
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Funding
- Army Research Office through the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies [W911NF-13-D-0001]
- Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers program of the NSF [DMR-1419807]
- Seventh Framework Programme of the European Research Council (FP7-Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowships) [328853]
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research [FA9550-17-1-0093]
- QuantiXLie Center of Excellence
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Shaping the topology of light, by way of spin or orbital angular momentum engineering, is a powerful tool to manipulate matter on the nanoscale. Conventionally, such methods focus on shaping the incident beam of light and not the full interaction between the light and the object to be manipulated. We theoretically show that tailoring the topology of the phase space of the light particle interaction is a fundamentally more versatile approach, enabling dynamics thatmay not be achievable by shaping of the light alone. In thismanner, we find that optically asymmetric (Janus) particles can become stable nanoscale motors even in a light field with zero angular momentum. These precessing steady states arise from topologically protected anticrossing behavior of the vortices of the optical torque vector field. Furthermore, by varying the wavelength of the incident light, we can control the number, orientations, and the stability of the spinning states. These results showthat the combination of phase-space topology and particle asymmetry can provide a powerful degree of freedom in designing nanoparticles for optimal external manipulation in a range of nano-optomechanical applications.
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