Nanoparticles levitating in light beams reveal secrets of nonlinear dynamics of open systems
The Levitation Photonics research team led by Ota Brzobohatý from the Institute of Physics of the CAS has prepared a universal tool that allows to dynamically change the nature of light interaction between nanoparticles and to observe the so-called nonlinear behaviour of an open (non-Hermitian) system.
The team has been systematically exploiting the force effects of light for several decades for practical applications, e.g. as compact optical tweezers for non-contact manipulation of microorganisms and nano-objects, a tractor beam or a light sorter for micro-objects. In recent years, optical forces are also a suitable tool for experimental model systems that provide a deeper understanding of physical processes in the nanoworld and at the interface between classical and quantum physics.
A practical understanding of these nanosystems interacting with their environment is also crucial for further technological advances, e.g. in energy exchange, sensitivity enhancement of sensors or development of quantum technologies. The results of the study are published in the journal Nature Physics.
"The work published in Nature Physics presents an experimental system with two glass nanoparticles that levitate in light beams. It is unique in that it allows the physical nature of the light interactions between the particles to be 'switched'. This property attracted the attention of our colleagues at the University of Vienna, who published a study of a different geometry in the same journal issue," says Oto Brzobohatý, head of the Levitation Photonics research group at the Institute of Photonics of the CAS.
Why is the experimental model system interesting? Will levitating nanoparticles be part of quantum technologies? More information and answers to these questions can be found in the press release issued on 1 August 2024 in cooperation with the Press Department of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
Photo (ISI CAS): Visualisation of two levitating nanoparticles