Optical torque on a magneto-dielectric Rayleigh absorptive sphere by a vector Bessel (vortex) beam

Renxian Li, Ruiping Yang, Chunying Ding, F.G. Mitri

The optical torque exerted on an absorptive megneto-dielectric sphere by an axicon-generated vector Bessel (vortex) beam with selected polarizations is investigated in the framework of the dipole approximation. The total optical torque is expressed as the sum of orbital and spin torques. The axial orbital torque component is calculated from the z -component of the cross-product of the vector position r and the optical force exerted on the sphere F. Depending on the beam characteristics (such as the half-cone angle and polarization type) and the physical properties of the sphere, it is shown here that the axial orbital torque vanishes before reversing sign, indicating a counter-intuitive orbital motion in opposite handedness of the angular momentum carried by the incident waves. Moreover, analytical formulas for the spin torque, which is divided into spin torques induced by electric and magnetic dipoles, are derived. The corresponding components of both the optical spin and orbital torques are numerically calculated, and the effects of polarization, the order of the beam, and half-cone angle are discussed in detail. The left-handed (i.e., negative) optical torque is discussed, and the conditions for generating optical spin and orbital torque sign reversal are numerically investigated. The transverse optical spin torque has a vortex-like character, whose direction depends on the polarization, the half-cone angle, and the order of the beam. Numerical results also show that the vortex direction depends on the radial position of the particle in the transverse plane. This means that a sphere may rotate with different directions when it moves radially. Potential applications are in particle manipulation and rotation, single beam optical tweezers, and other emergent technologies using vector Bessel beams on a small magneto-dielectric (nano) particle.

DOI