Tractor Beam Invented in Australia

[Iwanci Profile]

Getting closer ....


• Laser beam moves particles
• Forces them up hollow tube
• Won't work in space
AUSTRALIAN students have invented a tractor beam.
FOX News reports that students from the Australian National University have succeeded in moving particles a metre-and-a-half using only the power of light.
Very tiny particles, admittedly, but particles nonetheless.
ANU researcher Andrei Rhode said the device shines a hollow laser beam around tiny glass particles.
The laser heats the area around the particles, but the particles stay cool and start drifting.
When they stray near the hot laser beam, they get nudged back into the centre by the heated molecules bouncing around.
More heat is introduced under and off to the sides of the particles and gently forces them up the hollow laser tube.
The speed and direction the particles move in can then be manipulated by changing the brightness of the beams.
"With the particles and the laser we use, I would guess up to 10 metres in air should not be a problem," Mr Rhode said.
"The max distance we had was 1.5 metres, which was limited by the size of the optical table in the lab."
Unfortunately for sci-fi fans, the technology won't work in space, because it requires the use of heated gas, which can't exist in the vacuum of outer space.
But Mr Rhode said there's plenty of possible uses for his tractor beam on Earth, such as moving dangerous substances and microbes, and for sample taking and biomedical research.

[brothernumbty Profile]

so is it now possible? brilliant !, that means (while having dinner) i can move my stinking anal gasses across the room -into the face of the mother in law.

[Misinformedia Profile]

they did it, released info about tech they probably had working for years, a light tracker beam. they make it sound really lame but we know the deal. they have been beaming people and animals up to air ships for generations. here is the article from popsic.

beam me up scotty!:

"Have you ever lazily wished you could just use a tractor beam to grab that out-of-reach object? Apparently, you can.
Using only light, Australian researchers say they are able to move small particles almost five feet through the air. It’s more than 100 times the distance achieved by existing optical “tweezers,” the researchers say.
Not quite a simple grabby tractor beam, the new system works by shining a hollow laser beam at an object and taking advantage of air-temperature differences to move it around.

Moving objects with powerful light is not new — researchers have long been using optical tweezers to pluck bacteria-sized particles and move them a few millimeters. The U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, won his Nobel Prize for work with optical tweezers. But Andrei Rhode and colleagues at the Australian National University say their new laser device can move glass objects hundreds of times bigger than bacteria, and shove them a meter and a half (5 feet) or more. Rhode says the 1.5-meter limit was only because of the size of the table where he placed his lasers — he thinks he can move objects up to 10 meters, or about 30 feet.
It works by shining a hollow laser beam around small glass particles, as Inside Science explains. The air around the particle heats up, but the hollow center of the beam stays cool. The heated air molecules keep the object balanced in the dark center. But a small amount of light sneaks into the hollow, warming the air on one side of the object and nudging it along the length of the laser beam. Researchers can change the speed and direction of the glass object by changing the lasers’ brightness.
The system needs heated air or gas to work, so in its present incarnation it wouldn’t work in space — sorry, Star Wars fans. But it could be used for a variety of purposes on Earth, like biological research or movement of hazardous materials.
"

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-09/aussie-researchers-use-working-tractor-beam-move-objects-5-feet