Detection of optical force due to multiphoton absorption

Abstract

Resonant optical manipulation using absorption force so far has been based on the linear (one-photon) absorption by target material, while optical forces due to multiphoton absorption have not been much investigated. As multiphoton absorption obeys different selection rule from that of one-photon absorption, and also shows non-linear dependence on light intensity, a larger variety of photo-mechanical responses of small particles can be expected by using multiphoton absorption force. In this study, we focused femtosecond laser pulses to a single polymer microparticle containing fluorescence dyes to exert multiphoton absorption force on the particle. We successfully observed the three-dimensional motion of the photo-irradiated microparticle due to the multiphoton absorption.