Issue 24, 2021

Optical separation and discrimination of chiral particles by vector beams with orbital angular momentum

Abstract

Chirality describes a reduced symmetry and abounds in nature. The handedness-dependent response usually occurs only when a chiral object interacts with another chiral entity. Light carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) is inherently chiral due to the helical wave front. Here, we put forward a scheme that enables optical separation and simultaneous discrimination of single chiral particles using focused vector beams with OAM. Such focused vector vortex beams carrying radial-splitting optical chirality can selectively trap one enantiomer inside or outside the intensity maxima depending on the sign of the OAM. The particles with different chirality parameters can be trapped on different orbits and experience enhanced orbital motion. Moreover, the magnitude of OAM as well as the size of particle plays an important role in the chiral separation and discrimination. In addition to particle manipulation, the discussion of OAM in chiral light–matter interactions has potential application in, for example, optical enantioseparation or chiral detection.

Graphical abstract: Optical separation and discrimination of chiral particles by vector beams with orbital angular momentum

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Jul 2021
Accepted
24 Sep 2021
First published
28 Sep 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2021,3, 6897-6902

Optical separation and discrimination of chiral particles by vector beams with orbital angular momentum

M. Li, S. Yan, Y. Zhang, X. Chen and B. Yao, Nanoscale Adv., 2021, 3, 6897 DOI: 10.1039/D1NA00530H

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