Scientists have only recently described a force called the "optical binding force," which is produced when light moves down a waveguide, and acts tangentially as light passes by an object. The attractive form of this force is capable of
controlling small micro- and nanomechanical switches on a silicon chip.
The theory that describes the optical binding force suggested it should be repulsive as well as attractive but, until now, the repulsive nature of this force has not been
experimentally observed. A paper set to appear in the upcoming edition of Nature Photonics
demonstrates both the attractive and repulsive forms of this force.
According to corresponding author H. X. Tang, "this completes the
picture. We've shown that this is
indeed a bipolar light force with both an attractive and repulsive
component."
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