US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Jessica A Arnold

Gorden W Videen

Yongle Pan

Aimable Kalume

Systems and methods for trapping and holding airborne particles using an orienting hollow beam are disclosed. In the various embodiments, an optical trap comprises: a light source for generating a beam of light; optics and/or mechanics for forming and shaping the beam of light into an orienting hollow beam having unequal axisymmetry with a substantially hollow ring geometry cross-section and no angular momentum; an optical focusing element for focusing the orienting hollow beam; and a trapping region where an airborne particle can be present to be trapped and held at or near a focal point of the focused optical focusing element. In this arrangement, the particle is trapped at or near the focal point of the focused orienting hollow beam. In this arrangement, the particle is trapped at or near the focal point of the focused orienting hollow beam. The orienting hollow beam may be made rotatable in some embodiments.

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Chevy Chase, MD, United States of America

Jessica A Arnold