Optomechanical Self-Stability of Freestanding Photonic Metasurfaces

We develop an analytical framework for self-stabilizing optical manipulation of freestanding metasurfaces in three dimensions. Our framework reveals that the challenging problem of stabilization against translational and rotational perturbations in three dimensions is reduced to a simpler scattering analysis of the metasurface unit cell in two dimensions. We derive universal analytical stiffness coefficients applicable to arbitrary three-dimensional radial metasurfaces and radial beam-intensity profiles. The analytical nature of our framework facilitates highly efficient discovery of optimal optomechanical metasurfaces. Such use of metasurfaces for mechanical stabilization enables macroscale and long-range control in collimated, but otherwise unfocused light beams, and could open up avenues for manipulation beyond traditional optical tweezing and transport.