In Figure 1, beams of light are refracted by the particle where the beam intensity increases towards the central beam axis. As light is refracted by the particle, the change in momentum of the beam exerts an opposite force on the particle through which it is propagating. This change in momentum is greater for beam components closer to the axis - causing an off-axis particle to be drawn towards the central axis. The scattering force is due to scattering of light within the particle and is balanced by the net loss of momentum by the refracted beams in the forward direction which tends to trap the particle close to the beam focus.
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