title: Phase-transition-like properties of double-beam optical tweezers.
abstract: We report on double-beam optical tweezers that undergo previously unknown phase-transition-like behavior resulting in the formation of more optical traps than the number of beams used to create them. We classify the optical force fields which produce multiple traps for a double-beam system including the critical behavior. This effect is demonstrated experimentally in orthogonally polarized (noninterfering) dual-beam optical tweezers for a silica particle of 2.32  μm diameter. Phase transitions of multiple beam trapping systems have implications for hopping rates between traps and detection of forces between biomolecules using dual-beam optical tweezers. It is an example of a novel dynamic system with multiple states where force fields undergo a series of sign inversions as a function of parameters such as size and beam separation.
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 4072.
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Stilgoe
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Heckenberg
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rubinsztein-Dunlop