In this article, we report how Janus particles, composed of a silica sphere with a gold half-shell, can be not only stably trapped by optical tweezers but also displaced controllably along the axis of the laser beam through a complex interplay between optical and thermal forces. Scattering forces orient the asymmetric particle, while strong absorption on the metal side induces a thermal gradient, resulting in particle motion. An increase in the laser power leads to an upward motion of the particle, while a decrease leads to a downward motion. We study this reversible axial displacement, including a hysteretic jump in the particle position that is a result of the complex pattern of a tightly focused laser beam structure above the focal plane. As a first application we simultaneously trap a spherical gold nanoparticle and show that we can control the distance between the two particles inside the trap. This photonic micron-scale " elevator " is a promising tool for thermal force studies, remote sensing, and optical and thermal micromanipulation experiments. S tructures that are capable of using energy from their environment to exhibit self-propulsion at the nano-and microscale are of great interest for controlling processes in microfluidic chips as well as aiding in therapeutics, diagnostics, and performing in vivo tasks. 1−3 Motion at this scale presents challenges because viscous forces dominate inertial forces. In order to swim in the low Reynolds number regime, some biological organisms exhibit nonreciprocal motion, which has been the inspiration of many artificial microswimmers. 4−7