All-optical switching using controlled formation of large volume three-dimensional optical matter

We demonstrated the creation of large volume three-dimensional optical matter by optically trapping polystyrene spheres in a capillary and the resulting switching operation. The formation of optical matter was confirmed by examining the diffraction pattern of the trap region. Optical switching with an extinction ratio as large as ∼20dB was realized. From the dynamics of the optical matter, it was found that the transition from a disordered state to an ordered one appeared to be quite fast while the recovery of the system to the disordered state took a much longer time.