I know of laser light reflecting off or being scattered by particles, but is it possible that particles reflect of a sheet of laser light? For example in the experiments of ultracold atoms in a trap, it has been reported that a BEC can be confined inside a box made of sheets of laser light. I was wondering if anyone knew of a similar scenario where particles at finite temperature can be made to reflect off a laser light sheet.
What particle size you are talking about? Radiation pressure can deflect or reflect particles, I believe.
Laser wakefiled is the answer which indirectly achieves what you asked for. See the link.
https://www.nersc.gov/science/accelerator-science/laser-wakefield-particle-acceleration/
Not sure what kind of particle you have in mind. But see this nice paper by the Denz group
Photophoretic trampoline – Interaction of single airborne absorbing droplets with light
Applied Physics Letters 101 131115 2012
Abstract reads
We present the light-induced manipulation of absorbing liquid droplets in air. Ink droplets from a printer cartridge are used to demonstrate that absorbing liquids – just like their solid counterparts – can interact with regions of high light intensity due to the photophoretic force. It is shown that droplets follow a quasi- ballistic trajectory after bouncing off a high intensity light sheet. We estimate the intensities necessary for this rebound of airborne droplets and change the droplet trajectories through a variation of the manipulating light field.
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