Optical tweezers with light aligned along the particle’s trajectory enable playing tennis with light rackets

Optical tweezers can rapidly manipulate dielectric objects for applications ranging from microcentrifuges to controlling droplets and particles in a "lab-in-air" configuration. Here, we uniquely combine light propagation that is predominantly parallel to the particle's orbital track-rather than primarily perpendicular as in conventional vortices-with operation in air. We measure a 7-micrometer sphere circulating at 20,400 rounds per minute [340 hertz (Hz)] along 120-micrometer circumference tracks, achieving accelerations up to 10 times that of gravity (98 square meters per second). Our trap's optical orbital angular momentum of ℓ = 242ℏ per photon, combined with the gaseous environment, enables high circulation frequencies and underdamped operation at a high mechanical quality factor, <i><i>Q</i></i>. Together, our <i>Q</i>-<i>f</i> product of 5300 Hz facilitates low dissipation in combination with rapid particle manipulation. This advancement could substantially expand the impact of dynamic optical traps, particularly in fundamental measurements.