Optimizing optical trap stiffness for Rayleigh particles with an Airy array beam

Airy array beams are attractive for optical manipulation of particles owing to their non-diffraction and auto-focusing properties. An Airy array beam is composed of N Airy beams that accelerate mutually and symmetrically in opposite directions, for different ballistics trajectories, i.e., with different initial launch angles. Based on this, we investigate the optical force distribution acting on Rayleigh particles. Results show that it is possible to obtain greater stability for optical trapping by increasing the number of beams in the array. Also, the intensity focal point and gradient and scattering force of the array on Rayleigh particles can be controlled through a launch angle parameter. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America