title: Chiral nanoparticles in singular light fields.
abstract: The studying of how twisted light interacts with chiral matter on the nanoscale is paramount for tackling the challenging task of optomechanical separation of nanoparticle enantiomers, whose solution can revolutionize the entire pharmaceutical industry. Here we calculate optical forces and torques exerted on chiral nanoparticles by Laguerre-Gaussian beams carrying a topological charge. We show that regardless of the beam polarization, the nanoparticles are exposed to both chiral and achiral forces with nonzero reactive and dissipative components. Longitudinally polarized beams are found to produce chirality densities that can be 109times higher than those of transversely polarized beams and that are comparable to the chirality densities of beams polarized circularly. Our results and analytical expressions prove useful in designing new strategies for mechanical separation of chiral nanoobjects with the help of highly focussed beams.
authors.affiliation: Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.
authors.forename: Ilia A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Vovk
authors.affiliation: Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.
authors.forename: Anvar S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Baimuratov
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.|Monash University, Clayton Campus, Victoria 3800, Australia.
authors.forename: Weiren
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Saint Petersburg State University, 7-9 University Embankment, Saint Petersburg 199034, Russia.|Institute for Design Problems in Microelectronics of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 124365, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexey G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Shalkovskiy
authors.affiliation: Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Baranov
authors.affiliation: Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.
authors.forename: Anatoly V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Fedorov
authors.affiliation: Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.|Monash University, Clayton Campus, Victoria 3800, Australia.
authors.forename: Ivan D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Rukhlenko