Field Guide to Optical Levitation and Levitodynamics

Optical levitation has been the subject of science fiction for many years. In 1970, Arthur Ashkin demonstrated acceleration of optically levitated microparticles with a laser beam. In 2010, the trapping and control of mesoscopic particles in vacuum (levitodynamics) was developed. Optically trapped dielectric nanoparticles have been cooled into the quantum ground state. The primary objective of this Field Guide is to provide the reader with the basic principles of optical levitation and levitodynamics using both classical and quantum approaches. Within the Guide, you will find formulae and descriptions of phenomena that are fundamental for understanding the present state-of-the-art of optical trapping and cooling of dielectric micro and nanoparticles.