Coherent oscillations of a birefringent microsphere in vacuum optical traps

Yoshihiko Arita; Stephen H. Simpson; Pavel Zemánek; Kishan Dholakia

doi:10.1117/12.2573530

15 June 2020 Coherent oscillations of a birefringent microsphere in vacuum optical traps

Yoshihiko Arita, Stephen H. Simpson, Pavel Zemánek, Kishan Dholakia

Proceedings Volume 11522, Optical Manipulation and Structured Materials Conference 2020; 115221C (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2573530
Event: SPIE Technologies and Applications of Structured Light, 2020, Yokohama, Japan

Abstract

When particles are held in optical tweezers, we assume that they are in thermal equilibrium, in which the equipartition of energy determines the position variance of optically trapped spheres. Here we show that this condition only holds for very high symmetry cases, e.g. perfectly isotropic particles in unaberrated, linearly polarized Gaussian traps. We report an experimental observation that when a birefringent microsphere is held in a linearly polarised Gaussian optical trap in vacuum, spontaneous oscillations emerge that grow rapidly in amplitude and become increasingly coherent as the air pressure is reduced. Furthermore, when parametrically driven, these self-sustained oscillators exhibit an ultrahigh mechanical quality factor > 2 x 10⁸, which can be highly sensitive to external purtabations.

Citation Download Citation

Yoshihiko Arita, Stephen H. Simpson, Pavel Zemánek, and Kishan Dholakia "Coherent oscillations of a birefringent microsphere in vacuum optical traps", Proc. SPIE 11522, Optical Manipulation and Structured Materials Conference 2020, 115221C (15 June 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2573530

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available