Optical tweezers have proved to be a powerful tool with a wide range of applications. The gradient force plays a vital role in the stable optical trapping of nano-objects. The scalar method is convenient and effective for analyzing the gradient force in traditional optical trapping. However, when the third-order nonlinear effect of the nano-object is stimulated, the scalar method cannot adequately present the optical response of the metal nanoparticle to the external optical field. Here, we propose a theoretical model to interpret the nonlinear gradient force using the vector method. By combining the optical Kerr effect, the polarizability vector of the metallic nanoparticle is derived. A quantitative analysis is obtained for the gradient force as well as for the optical potential well. The vector method yields better agreement with reported experimental observations. We suggest that this method could lead to a deeper understanding of the physics relevant to nonlinear optical trapping and binding phenomena.

Cell identification and sorting have been hot topics recently. However, most conventional approaches can only predict the category of a single target, and lack the ability to perform multitarget tasks to provide coordinate information of the targets. This limits the development of high-throughput cell screening technologies. Fortunately, artificial intelligence (AI) systems based on deep-learning algorithms provide the possibility to extract hidden features of cells from original image information. Here, we demonstrate an AI-assisted multitarget processing system for cell identification and sorting. With this system, each target cell can be swiftly and accurately identified in a mixture by extracting cell morphological features, whereafter accurate cell sorting is achieved through noninvasive manipulation by optical tweezers. The AI-assisted model shows promise in guiding the precise manipulation and intelligent detection of high-flux cells, thereby realizing semi-automatic cell research.

The optical vortex beam has widely been studied and used because of its unique orbital angular momentum (OAM). To generate and control OAM in compact and integrated systems, many metallic metasurface devices have been proposed, however, most of them suffer from the low efficiency. Here, we propose and experimentally verify a high-efficiency monolayer metallic metasurface composed of semicircular nano-grooves distributed with detour phase. The metasurface can generate single or an array of OAM with spin-sensitive modulation and achieve the maximum efficiency of 60.2% in theory and 30.44% in experiment. This work has great potential in compact OAM detection and communication systems.

The cylindrical vector beam (CVB) has been extensively studied in recent years, but detection of CVBs with on-chip photonic devices is a challenge. Here, we propose and theoretically study a chiral plasmonic lens structure for CVB detection. The structure illuminated by a CVB can generate single plasmonic focus, whose focal position depends on the incident angle and the polarization order of CVB. Thus, the incident CVB can be detected according to the focal position and incident angle and with a coupling waveguide to avoid the imaging of the whole plasmonic field. It shows great potential in applications including CVB-multiplexing integrated communication systems.

Controlling both amplitude and phase of light in the subwavelength scale is a challenge for traditional optical devices. Here, we propose and numerically investigate a novel plasmonic meta-hologram, demonstrating broadband manipulation of both phase and amplitude in the subwavelength scale. In the meta-hologram, phase modulation is achieved by the detour phase distribution of unit cells, and amplitude is continuously modulated by a T-shaped nano-cavity with tunable plasmonic resonance. Compared to phase-only holograms, such a meta-hologram could reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) images with higher signal-to-noise ratio and better image quality, thus offering great potential in applications such as 3D displays, optical communications, and beam shaping.

Femtosecond (fs) cylindrical vector beams (CVBs) have found use in many applications in recent years. However, the existing rigid generation methods seriously limit its development. Here, we propose a flexible method for generating fs-CVBs with arbitrary polarization order by employing half wave plates and vortex retarders. The polarization state, autocorrelation width, pulse width, and spectrum features of the input and generated CVB pulses are measured and compared. The results verify that the generated CVBs remain in the fs regime with no appreciable temporal distortion, and the energy conversion efficiency can reach as high as 96.5%, even for a third-order beam. As a flexible way to generate fs-CVBs, this method will have great significance for many applications.