Optical forces and torques offer the route towards full degree-of-freedom manipulation of matter. Exploiting structured light has led to the discovery of gradient and curl forces, and nontrivial optomechanical manifestations, such as negative and lateral optical forces. Here, we uncover the existence of two fundamental torque components, which originate from the reactive helicity gradient and momentum curl of light, and which represent the rotational analogues to the gradient and curl forces, respectively. Based on the two components, we introduce and demonstrate the concept of lateral optical torques, which act transversely to the spin of illumination. The orbital angular momentum of vortex beams is shown to couple to the curl torque, promising a path to extreme torque enhancement or achieving negative optical torques. These results highlight the intersection between the areas of structured light, Mie-tronics and rotational optomechanics, even inspiring new paths of manipulation in acoustics and hydrodynamics.

光学力和扭矩提供了完全自由度操纵物质的途径。利用结构光发现了梯度力和旋度力，以及重要的光机械表现，例如负光学力和横向光学力。在这里，我们揭示了两个基本扭矩分量的存在，它们源自光的反应螺旋梯度和动量旋度，分别代表梯度力和旋度力的旋转类似物。基于这两个组件，我们介绍并演示了横向光学扭矩的概念，该扭矩横向于照明旋转。涡旋光束的轨道角动量被证明与旋度扭矩耦合，有望实现极端扭矩增强或实现负光学扭矩。这些结果凸显了结构光、密电子学和旋转光力学领域之间的交叉点，甚至激发了声学和流体动力学操纵的新途径。