Optomechanics arises from the photon momentum and its exchange with low-dimensional objects. It is well known that optical radiation exerts pressure on objects, pushing them along the light path. However, optical pulling of an object against the light path is still a counter-intuitive phenomenon. Herein, we present a general concept of optical pulling—opto-thermoelectric pulling (OTEP)—where the optical heating of a light-absorbing particle using a simple plane wave can pull the particle itself against the light path. This irradiation orientation-directed pulling force imparts self-restoring behaviour to the particles, and three-dimensional (3D) trapping of single particles is achieved at an extremely low optical intensity of 10⁻² mW μm⁻². Moreover, the OTEP force can overcome the short trapping range of conventional optical tweezers and optically drive the particle flow up to a macroscopic distance. The concept of self-induced opto-thermomechanical coupling is paving the way towards freeform optofluidic technology and lab-on-a-chip devices.

光力学源于光子动量及其与低维物体的交换。众所周知，光辐射会对物体施加压力，推动它们沿着光路前进。然而，物体对光路的光学牵引仍然是一种违反直觉的现象。在这里，我们提出了光学牵引的一般概念——光热电牵引（OTEP）——其中使用简单的平面波对光吸收粒子进行光学加热可以将粒子本身拉向光路。这种辐射定向拉力赋予颗粒自恢复行为，并且在10 ^-2 mW μm ^-2的极低光强度下实现了单个颗粒的三维（3D）捕获。此外，OTEP力可以克服传统光镊的短捕获范围，并以光学方式驱动粒子流达到宏观距离。自感光热机械耦合的概念正在为自由光流控技术和芯片实验室设备铺平道路。