Directional Scattering-Induced Optical Forces on a Mie Particle near a Metal Interface

Abstract

Optical manipulation of Mie-resonant dielectric nanoparticles is strongly influenced by their enhanced scattering and multipolar response, which fundamentally modifiesthe balance of optical forces. In this work, we study the optical forces acting on a resonant dielectric nanoparticle placed near a metal interface, where scattering occurs into both free-space and surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) channels. We show that the interference of electric and magnetic dipole moments leads to highly directional scattering in these channels, and the direction and magnitude of the scattering-induced force are directly linked to the angular directivity of the corresponding radiation channels. We show that in a cross-beam configuration, where the radiation-pressure contribution is suppressed, the optical force can be changed for almost 2π in a wide range of particle sizes that provides a route toward optical sorting of resonant nanoparticles.