Non-Hermitian physics for optical manipulation uncovers inherent instability of large clusters

Xiao Li, Yineng Liu, Zhifang Lin, Jack Ng () and C. T. Chan
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Xiao Li: Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen
Yineng Liu: Xiamen University
Zhifang Lin: Fudan University
Jack Ng: Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen
C. T. Chan: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Intense light traps and binds small particles, offering unique control to the microscopic world. With incoming illumination and radiative losses, optical forces are inherently nonconservative, thus non-Hermitian. Contrary to conventional systems, the operator governing time evolution is real and asymmetric (i.e., non-Hermitian), which inevitably yield complex eigenvalues when driven beyond the exceptional points, where light pumps in energy that eventually “melts” the light-bound structures. Surprisingly, unstable complex eigenvalues are prevalent for clusters with ~10 or more particles, and in the many-particle limit, their presence is inevitable. As such, optical forces alone fail to bind a large cluster. Our conclusion does not contradict with the observation of large optically-bound cluster in a fluid, where the ambient damping can take away the excess energy and restore the stability. The non-Hermitian theory overturns the understanding of optical trapping and binding, and unveils the critical role played by non-Hermiticity and exceptional points, paving the way for large-scale manipulation.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26732-8

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