Open AccessOptical orientation and rotation of trapped red blood cells with Laguerre-Gaussian mode
Author(s) -
Ranjan Dasgupta,
Sunita Ahlawat,
Ravi Shanker Verma,
Pradeep Kumar Gupta
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.19.007680
Subject(s) - topological quantum number , optical tweezers , trapping , physics , optics , tilt (camera) , angular momentum , orientation (vector space) , rotation (mathematics) , gaussian beam , beam (structure) , charge (physics) , laguerre polynomials , optical vortex , quantum mechanics , geometry , ecology , mathematics , biology
We report the use of Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) modes for controlled orientation and rotation of optically trapped red blood cells (RBCs). For LG modes with increasing topological charge the resulting increase in size of the intensity annulas led to trapping of the cells at larger tilt angle with respect to the beam axis and thus provided additional control on the stable orientation of the cells under trap. Further, the RBCs could also be driven as micro-rotors by a transfer of orbital angular momentum from the LG trapping beam having large topological charge or by rotating the profile of LG mode having fractional topological charge.