  We study the effects of the spin orbit interaction (SOI) of light in an
optical trap and show that the propagation of the tightly focused trapping beam
in a stratified medium can lead to significantly enhanced SOI. For a plane
polarized incident beam the SOI manifests itself by giving rise to a strong
anisotropic linear diattenuation effect which produces polarization-dependent
off-axis high intensity side lobes near the focal plane of the trap. Single
micron-sized asymmetric particles can be trapped in the side lobes, and
transported over circular paths by a rotation of the plane of input
polarization. We demonstrate such controlled motion on single pea-pod shaped
single soft oxometalate (SOM) particles of dimension around $1\times 0.5\mu$m
over lengths up to $\sim$15 $\mu$m . The observed effects are supported by
calculations of the intensity profiles based on a variation of the Debye-Wolf
approach. The enhanced SOI could thus be used as a generic means of
transporting mesoscopic asymmetric particles in an optical trap without the use
of complex optical beams or changing the alignment of the beam into the trap.
