Off-Axial Acoustic Radiation Force of Repulsor and Tractor Bessel Beams on a Sphere

Acoustic Bessel beams are known to produce an axial radiation force on a sphere centered on the beam axis (on-axial configuration) that exhibits both repulsor and tractor behaviors. The repulsor and the tractor forces are oriented along the beam's direction of propagation and opposite to it, respectively. The behavior of the acoustic radiation force generated by Bessel beams when the sphere lies outside the beam's axis (off-axial configuration) is unknown. Using the 3-D radiation force formulas given in terms of the partial wave expansion coefficients for the incident and scattered waves, both axial and transverse components of the force exerted on a silicone-oil sphere are obtained for a zero-and a first-order Bessel vortex beam. As the sphere departs from the beam's axis, the tractor force becomes weaker. Moreover, the behavior of the transverse radiation force field may vary with the sphere's size factor ka (where k is the wavenumber and a is the sphere radius). Both stable and unstable equilibrium regions around the beam's axis are found, depending on ka values. These results are particularly important for the design of acoustical tractor beam devices operating with Bessel beams.