The method of polarization filtering for implementation of the optical manipulator

Abstract

The ability to capture and transport micro-objects with the help of light is one of the topical studies in modern optics. Optical tweezers perform manipulations with colloidal and aerosol nano- and microparticles, living cells, individual molecules and atoms, which is widely used in modern science. Optical traps, created on the basis of singular beams, allow capturing live microorganisms for further study using optical microscopy. Such traps have important practical characteristics, such as maintaining a minimum of intensity on the beam axis, which allows to avoid unwanted overheating of the captured object, as well as to keep the object in transverse coordinates. On the other hand, for many practical purposes it is necessary to limit the transmission of the captured object in the longitudinal direction. Finding ways to generate such three-dimensional traps is currently one of the priorities of world optics. In presented work it is shown that polarized vector beams, formed after uniaxial crystal, create bottle beam with dark centre and by varying geometrical and polarization parameters of experimental set-up it is possible to control the bottle beam properties.