title: Observation of a single-beam gradient-force optical trap for dielectric particles in air.
abstract: A single-beam gradient-force optical trap for dielectric particles, which relies solely on the radiation pressure force of a TEM(00)-mode laser light, is demonstrated in air for what is believed to be the first time. It was observed that micrometer-sized glass spheres with a refractive index of n=1.45 remained trapped in the focus region for more than 30 min, and we could transfer them three dimensionally by moving the beam focus and the microscope stage. A laser power of ~40 mW was sufficient to trap a 5- microm -diameter glass sphere. The present method has several distinct advantages over the conventional optical levitation method.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Omori
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki