A. A. R. Neves

Electromagnetic forces for an arbitrary optical trapping of a spherical dielectric

A double tweezers setup was employed to perform ultra sensitive force measurements and to obtain the full optical force curve as a function of radial position and wavelength. The light polarization was used to select either the transverse electric (TE), or transverse magnetic (TM), or both, modes excitation. Analytical solution for optical trapping force on a spherical dielectric particle for an arbitrary positioned focused beam is presented in a generalized Lorenz-Mie diffraction theory. The theoretical prediction of the theory agrees well with the experimental results. The algorithm presented here can be easily extended to other beam geometries and scattering particles.

Analytical results for a Bessel function times Legendre polynomials class integrals

When treating problems of vector diffraction in electromagnetic theory, the evaluation of the integral involving Bessel and associated Legendre functions is necessary. Here we present the analytical result for this integral that will make numerical quadrature techniques or localized approximations unnecessary. The solution is presented using the properties of the Bessel and associated Legendre functions.

Exact partial wave expansion of optical beams with respect to an arbitrary origin

Using an analytical expression for an integral involving Bessel and Legendre functions, we succeed in obtaining the partial wave decomposition of a general optical beam at an arbitrary location relative to the origin. We also showed that solid angle integration will eliminate the radial dependence of the expansion coefficients. The beam shape coefficients obtained are given by an exact expression in terms of single or double integrals. These integrals can be evaluated numerically on a short time scale. We present the results for the case of a linear-polarized Gaussian beam.

Ultrafast optical switching with CdTe nanocrystals in a glass matrix

This letter describes a principle demonstration of an ultrafast optical switch operating at 1Tbit∕s using CdTe-quantum-dots-doped glasses. Using a three-beam pump and probe experiment, we showed that thermal effects are responsible for a baseline in the pump and probe graphs and the nonexistence of carrier accumulation effects. After eliminating the thermal effects, we showed that, when two pump pulses are delayed by 1 ps, each pump pulse modulates the probe pulse independently, making this material highly promising for ultrafast all optical switching.

Recombination processes in CdTe quantum-dot-doped glasses

Electron-hole recombination in CdTe quantum dots was studied by photoluminescence and resonant femtosecond pump–probe measurements. A dependence of recombination times with pump pulse intensity was observed and we attribute this to the Auger recombination process. The overall kinetic processes that we observed are a fast decay from the initial excited state to surface trap states, the Auger recombination, the recombination of electrons from the surface states, and a longer time recombination which we attribute to electrons in the deep traps states.

SiO2∕PbTe quantum-dot multilayer production and characterization

We report the fabrication of multilayer structures containing layers of PbTe quantum dots (QDs) spaced by 15–20 nm thick SiO2 layers. The QDs were grown by the laser ablation of a PbTe target using the second harmonic of Nd:YAG laser in an argon atmosphere. The SiO2 layers were fabricated by plasma chemical vapor deposition using tetramethoxysilane as a precursor. The influence of the ablation time on the size and size distribution of the QDs is studied by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Optical absorption measurements show clearly the QDs confinement effects.

Double optical tweezers for ultrasensitive force spectroscopy in microsphere Mie scattering

We used a double tweezers setup to perform ultrasensitive force spectroscopy and observe the forces due to light scattering in a single isolated particle. We demonstrate how to selectively couple the light to the transverse electric (TE), transverse magnetic (TM), or both TE and TM microsphere modes by means of the beam polarization and positioning, and to observe correspondent morphology-dependent resonances (MDR). The results show how the usually assumed azimuthal symmetry in the horizontal plane no longer holds because of the symmetry break caused by the beam polarization. Also, the MDR resonances can change the force values by more than 30–50%.

Exact partial wave expansion of optical beams with respect to arbitrary origin

Partial wave decomposition of incident beams is the first task to be performed to impose boundary conditions at the particle interface in the calculation of the scattering of spherical particles. The coordinates origin must be in the center of the particle and not at high symmetry positions of the beam. This can be a quite complicated problem, especially when a full vectorial diffraction description of the electromagnetic fields and highly focused laser beams are required where the paraxial limit fails. Traditional approximation techniques have been used to proceed forward and to obtain numerical results. The main fault relies on a radial dependence of the beam shape coefficients, which limits the validity of such approximations. Here we prove that the radial dependence will emerge from the solid angle integration in this way obtaining an exact, closed expression, without any approximation, for the beam shape coefficients, for an arbitrary beam shape, origin and polarization, the special case of a Gaussian beam is presented.

Nonlinear microspectroscopy in an optical tweezers system: application to cells marked with quantum dots

In this work we used our set up consisting of an optical tweezers plus non-linear micro-spectroscopy system to perform scanning microscopy and observe spectra using two photon excited (TPE) luminescence of captured single cells conjugated with quantum dots of CdS and CdTe. The CdS nanocrystals are obtained by our group via colloidal synthesis in aqueous medium with final pH = 7 using sodium polyphosphate as the stabilizing agent. In a second step the surface of CdS particles is functionalized with linking agents such as Glutaraldehyde. The CdTe quantum dots are functionalized in the its proper synthesis using mercaptoacetic acid (AMA). We used a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser to excite the hyper Rayleigh or TPE luminescence in particles trapped with an Nd:YAG cw laser and a 30 cm monochromator equipped with a cooled back illuminated CCD to select the spectral region for imaging. With this system we obtained hyper Rayleigh and TPE luminescence images of macrophages and other samples. The results obtained show the potential presented by this system and fluorescent labels to perform spectroscopy in a living trapped microorganism in any neighbourhood and dynamically observe the chemical reactions changes in real time.

Auger recombination process in CdTe quantum dots

Electron-hole recombination was theoretically and experimentally studied in CdTe quantum dots. A dependence of recombination times with pump pulse intensity was observed dots and it was attributed to the Auger recombination process. The rate equation model can describe completely the experimental data.