Time averaged total force on a dipolar sphere in an electromagnetic field

Abstract

We establish the time averaged total force on a subwavelength sized particle in a time harmonic varying field. Our analysis is not restrictive about the spatial dependence of the incident field. We discuss the addition of the radiative reaction term in the polarizability in order to correctly deal with the scattering force. As a consequence and illustration, we assess the degree of accuracy of several polarizability models previously established.