Selection and characterization of aerosol particle size using a bessel beam optical trap for single particle analysis

Bessel beams were used to create a counter-propagating optical trap for capturing and manipulating aerosol particles. Aerosol droplets were characterized through measurement of the elastic scattered light at three wavelengths; the trapping wavelength of 532 nm was used in conjunction with two probe beams at 405 nm and 633 nm to reduce the uncertainty in estimating droplet radii of 1 μm or less. Control of the aerosol size distribution sampled by the counter-propagating trap was demonstrated by varying the trapping beam core diameters and intensities. Smaller droplet sizes were preferentially selected with a 1.7 μm core diameter compared to cores of 2.7 μm and 4.5 μm. Further, an increase in core intensity was shown to broaden the range in droplet sizes that were optically trapped. The possibility of using such an approach to isolate and analyze the properties of single accumulation mode aerosol particles is discussed.