Modelling optomechanical responses in optical tweezers beyond paraxial limits

Abstract

Abstract Optically levitated dielectric nanoparticles have become valuable tools for precision sensing and quantum optomechanical experiments. To predict the dynamic properties of a particle trapped in an optical tweezer with high fidelity, a tool is needed to compute the particle’s response to the given optical field accurately. Here, we utilise a numerical solution of the three-dimensional trapping light to accurately simulate optical tweezers and predict key optomechanical parameters. By controlling the numerical aperture and measuring the the particle’s oscillation frequencies in the trap, we validate the accuracy of our method. We foresee broad applications of this method in the field of levitodynamics, where precise characterisation of optical tweezers is essential for estimating parameters ranging from motional frequencies to scattering responses of the particle with various dielectric properties.