Self-feedback induced bistability in dual-beam intracavity optical tweezers

The intracavity optical tweezers is a new, to the best of our knowledge, cavity optomechanics system, implementing a self-feedback control of the particle's position by trapping the particle inside an active ring cavity. This self-feedback mechanism efficiently constructs a novel potential in the cavity. Here we predict and give experimental evidence for the self-feedback induced optical bistability in dual-beam intracavity optical tweezers. Then the characteristics of these bistable potential wells are investigated. The results show that we can prevent the bistable behaviors from destabilizing the trapping stability through tuning the foci offset of two propagating beams in the cavity. This contributes to the use of intracavity optical tweezers as a powerful tool for optical manipulation. Importantly, the thermally activated transition of the trapped particle in the bistable potential is observed for particular experimental parameters. Further investigation of this phenomenon could underlie the mechanism of many metastable-related processes in physics, chemistry, and biology.