In this paper a versatile experimental system for optical levitation is presented. Microscopic liquid droplets are produced on demand from piezo-electrically driven dispensers. The charge of the droplets is controlled by applying an electric field on the piezo-dispenser head. The dispenser releases droplets into a vertically focused laser beam. The size and position in 3 dimensions of trapped droplets are measured using two orthogonally placed high speed cameras. Alternatively, the vertical position is determined by imaging scattered light onto a position sensitive detector. The charge of a trapped droplets is determined by recording its motion when an electric field is applied, and the charge can be altered by exposing the droplet to a radioactive source or UV light. Further, spectroscopic information of the trapped droplet is obtained by imaging the droplet on the entrance slit of a spectrometer. Finally, the trapping cell can be evacuated, allowing investigations of droplet dynamics in vacuum. The system is utilized to study a variety of physical phenomena, and three pilot experiments are given in this paper. First, a system used to control and measure the charge of the droplet is presented. Second, it is demonstrated how particles can be made to rotate and spin by trapping them using optical vortices. Finally, the Raman spectra of trapped glycerol droplets are obtained and analyzed. The long term goal of this work is to create a system where interactions of droplets with the surrounding medium or with other droplets can be studied with full control of all physical variables.
The development of an experimental system in which optical levitation combined with Millikan´s classical oil drop
experiment will be presented. The focus of the apparatus is a glass cell (25x72x25 mm3) in which an oil drop is levitated
using a vertically aligned laser beam. A laser power of about 0.9 W is needed to capture a drop, whereas typically 0.3 W
is sufficient to maintain it in the trap. An alternating electric field is applied vertically across the cell, causing the drop to
oscillate in the vertical direction. The amplitude of the oscillations depends on the strength of the electric field and the
q/m ratio of the oil drop. The oscillations are observed by imaging scattered laser light onto either a screen or a position
sensitive detector. The number of discrete charges on the drop can be reduced by exposing it to either UV-light or a
radioactive source. The radius of the drop is measured by detecting the diffraction pattern produced when illuminated
with a horizontally aligned He-Ne laser beam. The mass of the drop can then be determined since the density of the oil is known. Hence, absolute measurements of both the mass and the charge of the drop can be obtained. The goal of the experiment is to design a system which can be used to demonstrate several fundamental physical phenomena using the bare eye as the only detector. The experimental set-up will be further developed for studies of light scattering and spectroscopy of liquids and for studies of interactions between liquid drops.
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