Unified Simulation Platform for Optical Tweezers and Optofluidic Force Induction

Optical tweezers
utilize the forces exerted by focused laser beams
to trap particles. In optofluidic force induction (OF2i), the forces
exerted by a weakly focused laser beam trap particles in the transverse
directions and push them in the laser propagation direction, which
can be utilized for optical nanoparticle characterization with single-particle
sensitivity. Here, we present a unified approach for the simulation
of nanoparticles propagating in the presence of fluidic and optical
forces, which can be used for both optical tweezers and OF2i simulations.
We demonstrate the working principle at a number of selected examples
and provide the simulation software as an add-on to our generic Maxwell
solver NANOBEM that is based on a boundary element method approach.

光镊（Optical Tweezers）利用聚焦激光束产生的作用力捕获微粒。在光流体力诱导（Optofluidic Force Induction, OF2i）技术中，弱聚焦激光束所施加的力可在横向方向捕获微粒，并沿激光传播方向推动微粒，该技术可用于实现具备单粒子灵敏度的纳米颗粒光学表征。本文提出一种统一的模拟方法，用于模拟同时受流体力与光学力作用的纳米颗粒的传播行为，该方法可同时适用于光镊与OF2i的模拟场景。我们通过若干精选示例阐明了该方法的工作原理，并将该模拟软件作为基于边界元法（Boundary Element Method, BEM）的通用麦克斯韦求解器NANOBEM的附加组件予以提供。