Dr. Etienne Brasselet: Liquid crystals as a test-bed for chiral optomechanics

Forces exerted by light on matter basically results from the absorption, modification or redirection of the linear momentum of light. A well-known example is the optical radiation pressure exerted by light on the interface between two media. Tailoring the optical radiation forces generally consists to engineer the scattering of light. Here we will discuss how the optical angular momentum of light can be used to control optomechanical effects, which relies on the interplay between the chirality of matter and that of light. This will be illustrated by recent developments on helicity-controlled optomechanics of chiral liquid crystals.