Enhanced radiation pressure reversal on free carriers in nanoparticles and polarization dependence in the Rayleigh regime

Abstract

The phenomenon of reversed radiation pressure on free electrons in a nanoparticle requires the necessary but insufficient condition that the real part of the particle’s permittivity be negative. It is shown that Rayeigh scattering theory is adequate for modeling the phenomenon by favorable comparison with Mie theory for single particles. A multiparticle Rayleigh scattering approach demonstrates that the radiation attraction of free electrons is enhanced by the interaction of closely spaced particles when the nanoparticles are in close proximity and separated along the incident wave polarization direction. However, the negative force on free carriers is reduced when the particles are aligned perpendicular to the incident electric field polarization. The accompanying increased radiation force on the material bound carriers is proposed as a step toward understanding how nanostructured materials and surfaces exhibiting reversed internal optical momentum can be designed with interacting nanoparticles for enhanced propulsion due to the ejection of hot electrons.