Optical trapping of metal particles in doughnut-shaped beam emitted by photonic-crystal laser

Doughnut-shaped beams can trap low-index or non-transparent particles. It is demonstrated that a TEM01* mode beam emitted directly by a photonic-crystal (PC) laser can stably trap metal particles in two dimensions. Replacing a conventional Gaussian-beam laser with a PC laser overcomes the limits of conventional optical tweezers, thereby opening the way for novel applications.