Resonance optical manipulation of nano-objects based on nonlinear optical response

Optical manipulation is a technique to control the mechanical motion of small objects by using electromagnetic radiation force. Optical tweezers are the most popular tool to trap and move microparticles suspended in a medium. Recent interest has been shifting to manipulating nano-objects considerably smaller than the wavelength of light. Since the radiation force exerted on nano-objects is extremely small, an innovative method is necessary to make this concept feasible. Utilizing the resonant optical response of the objects to electronic transitions is one of the promising ways to approach nanoscale optical manipulation, and several advances in this direction have been made recently. Despite experimental studies on resonance optical tweezers showing favorable results, conventional theories have been unable to explain the results though demonstrations of resonant manipulations for traveling and standing waves have shown favorable results. In the present article, we provide a perspective view of resonance optical manipulation based on nonlinear optical response that we have recently proposed. This idea coherently elucidates recently reported puzzling phenomena appearing in studies concerning resonance optical tweezers that contradict the conventional understanding of resonance optical trapping. Further, this concept opens up the possibility to develop potentially powerful manipulation techniques because the nonlinear optical response involves processes with considerably greater degrees of freedom than those of the linear optical response. As examples, we propose a method for trapping single organic molecules that is more effective than ever before, selectively pulling the molecules with a particular transition energy, and our proposed method allows for high-spatial-resolution optical manipulation beyond the diffraction limit.