Photophoresis

Photophoresis denotes the phenomenon that small particles suspended in gas (aerosols) or liquids (hydrocolloids) start to migrate when illuminated by a sufficiently intense beam of light. The existence of this phenomenon is owed to a non-uniform distribution of temperature of an illuminated particle in a fluid medium. Separately from photophoresis, in a fluid mixture of different kinds of particles, the migration of some kinds of particles may be due to differences in their absorptions of thermal radiation and other thermal effects collectively known as thermophoresis. In laser photophoresis, particles migrate once they have a refractive index different from their surrounding medium. The migration of particles is usually possible when the laser is slightly or not focused. A particle with a higher refractive index compared to its surrounding molecule moves away from the light source due to momentum transfer from absorbed and scattered light photons. This is referred to as a radiation pressure force. This force depends on light intensity and particle size but has nothing to do with the surrounding medium. Just like in Crookes radiometer, light can heat up one side and gas molecules bounce from that surface with greater velocity, hence push the particle to the other side. Under certain conditions, with particles of diameter comparable to the wavelength of light, the phenomenon of a negative indirect photophoresis occurs, due to the unequal heat generation on the laser irradiation between the back and front sides of particles, this produces a temperature gradient in the medium around the particle such that molecules at the far side of the particle from the light source may get to heat up more, causing the particle to move towards the light source.