Stable beam riding with architectured diffraction gratings. Optical manipulation of nanoscale objects using focused laser beams emerged as an indispensable tool. However, manipulating large – meter scale objects – using light radiation pressure remains a significant challenge owing to inherent dynamic instabilities at these scales. Diffraction gratings offer a path to improve stability by engineering the object’s scattering properties and corresponding pressure gradient forces. Solving this challenge can open the door for advanced space propulsion by intense laser beams, allowing velocities higher than possible with current rockets.

Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Utah propose a bi-grating metasurface design that can ride atop a Gaussian laser beam and is stable to perturbations. They verify their design using FDTD modeling and mechanical simulations. The findings show a trade-off between acceleration forces and stability to perturbations, providing insights into practical design for future light-sails. The proposed approach is of great promise for stable propulsion of large-scale light-sails, and could one day transform space exploration, by making it fast and low cost.

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