Nonconservative forcing and diffusion in refractive optical traps

Refractive optical trapping forces can be nonconservative in the vicinity of a stable equilibrium point even in the absence of radiation pressure. We discuss how nonconservative 3D force fields, in the vicinity of an equilibrium point, reduce to circular forcing in a plane; a simple model of such forcing is the refractive trapping of a sphere by a four rays. We discuss in general the diffusion of an anisotropically trapped, circularly forced particle and obtain its spectrum of motion. Equipartition of potential energy holds even though the nonconservative flow does not follow equipotentials of the trap. We find that the dissipated nonconservative power is proportional to temperature, providing a mechanism for a runaway heating instability in traps.