INVESTIGADORES
CUEVAS Mauro
artículos
Título:
Optical force propelled by metamaterial surface waves excitation: pushing and tractor beam sources
Autor/es:
GRUNHUT, VIVIAN; CUEVAS, MAURO
Revista:
Optics Continuum
Editorial:
Optica
Referencias:
Año: 2024 vol. 3
Resumen:
Theoretical research on optomechanical interactions at subwavelength levels using surface waves (SWs) excitation has a great impact in both the academic knowledge and practical realm. In this letter we have revealed that the dynamic characteristics of the SWs excited along a metamaterial boundary, such as its forward or backward propagation nature, provide a direct demonstration about the direction of action of the optical force exerted on a dielectric nanoparticle. In particular, by using a rigorous electromagnetic formalism based in the second Green identity, we have modeled the scattering problem of a Gaussian beam impinging on a metamaterial plane surface with a subwavelength localized defect. We have shown that depending on the nature of the excited SW, dielectric nanoparticles placed near the surface can be pushed away or towards the localized defect. We believe that this work unveils the potential implementation of subwavelength defects as sources of pushing or pulling optical forces.