Near-field optical trapping with an ultrashort pulsed laser beam

Smitha Kuriakose, Dru Morrish, Xiaosong Gan, James W. M. Chon, Kishan Dholakia, Min Gu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We report the focused evanescent optical trapping of nonfluorescent and fluorescent dielectric microspheres using a femtosecond laser. The experiment confirms that the trapping efficiency increases with the size of the particles. As a result, a pulsed laser has been used to trap particles in the Mie regime and to excite whispering gallery modes in them. The excitation of whispering gallery modes in a near-field femtosecond trap shows a significant suppression of the two-photon fluorescence background with an improvement of the photon storage factor by 46%, as compared to far-field two-photon excitation. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages3
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume92
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Feb 2008

Keywords

  • EVANESCENT-WAVE ILLUMINATION
  • TOTAL INTERNAL-REFLECTION
  • 2-PHOTON FLUORESCENCE
  • MICROSCOPY
  • EXCITATION
  • TWEEZERS
  • FORCE

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