Novel approach for all-optical trapping and manipulation of absorbing particles in air is suggested.

Abstract: We suggest a novel approach in all-optical trapping employing a photophoretic force for manipulation of absorbing particles in open air. We demonstrate experimentally the robust three-dimensional guiding, over the distances of a few millimeters, of agglomerates of carbon nanoparticles with the size spanned from $100$ nm to $10\,\mu$m, as well as their acceleration up to velocities of 1 cm/sec. We achieve stable positioning and guiding of particles as well as simultaneous trapping of a large number of particles in a dual-beam optical trap created by two counter-propagating and co-rotating optical vortex beams.

Keywords: Nanomaterials; Optical tweezers or optical manipulation; Singular optics

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