Colloidal Holography and Crystal Dislocations

MacDonald, M. P., Prentice, P. and Dholakia, K. (2005) Colloidal Holography and Crystal Dislocations. In: Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation II, Bellingham, WA, USA, 31 Jul - 4 Aug 2005, p. 593017. (doi: 10.1117/12.614843)

Abstract

The analogous nature of dislocations in crystals and light leads to some interesting links between the properties of optical and crystal dislocations. A dislocation in a crystal can be described by a Burgers vector b , whilst a dislocation in a laser mode such as the vortex in a Laguerre Gaussian beam, can be described by a topological charge l 2. By illuminating both optically trapped and self-assembled two-dimensional colloidal crystals with a Gaussian laser beam, we show a direct link between crystal and light dislocations, where the first order diffraction pattern from a crystal with Burgers' vector b = na contains vortex laser modes of topological charge l =±mn , (where n is an integer, a is the lattice constant of the crystal and m is an integer corresponding to the diffraction order).

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Prentice, Dr Paul
• Authors: MacDonald, M. P., Prentice, P., and Dholakia, K.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• ISSN: 0277-786X