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Published on: October 13, 2011
Forces in optical tweezers with radially and azimuthally polarized trapping beams
Timo A Nieminen1, Norman R Heckenberg, Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop
1Centre for Biophotonics and Laser Science, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. timo@physics.uq.edu.au
Abstract:
It has been suggested that radially polarized beams can be used to improve the performance of optical tweezers, with reduced scattering force resulting from both the polarization and the dark center of the beam [Opt. Lett. 32, 1839 (2007)]. We calculate the forces on particles in such traps, using rigorous electromagnetic theory, comparing the results with azimuthally polarized beam, circularly polarized LG 01 beams, and Gaussian beams. Our results agree qualitatively with Opt. Lett. 32, 1839 (2007), but differ quantitatively.
