Demonstration of dye particle manipulation assisted by the induced bubble resulted from low-power optical vortex beam illumination

Particle manipulation with light is presented here with bubble-assisted action facilitated by fluorescent dye. Cavitation bubbles can be generated with a low-power optical vortex (OV) beam (approximately 13 mW), because the interaction of this vortex beam with dye molecules increases the heating intensity, and by this means bubbles can be induced controllably. Fluorescent dye can also be used for laser focusing, alignment and act as our test particle. Fluorescent dye particle movement and trapping are forced by the bubbles, and then the particle drift velocity can be determined. The induction of particle motion by this means is demonstrated experimentally. Sorting of particles is a potential application of our work.