A chiral route to pulling optical forces and left-handed optical torques

Abstract: We analyze how chirality can generate pulling optical forces and left-handed torques by cross-coupling linear-to-angular momenta between the light field and the chiral object. In the dipolar regime, we reveal that such effects can emerge from a competition between non-chiral and chiral contributions to dissipative optical forces and torques, a competition balanced by the strength of chirality of the object. We extend the analysis to large chiral spheres where the interplay between chirality and multipolar resonances can give rise to a break of symmetry that flips the signs of both optical forces and torques.