Radiation force of highly focused Lorentz-Gauss beams on a Rayleigh particle

The radiation force of highly focused Lorentz-Gauss beams (LG beam) on a dielectric sphere in the Rayleigh scattering regime is theoretically studied. The numerical results show that the Lorentz-Gauss beam can be used to trap particles with the refractive index larger than that of the ambient. The radiation force distribution has been studied under different beam widths of the Lorentz part. The trapping stability under different conditions is also analyzed. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America