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<\/div>\nA tractor beam is a device that can move an object from a distance. The idea comes from a 1931 sci-fi story called Spacehounds of IPC<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cThere is such a thing as a ray screen, you kill-joy, and there are also lifting or tractor rays \u2014two things I\u2019ve been trying to dope out and that you\u2019ve been giving me the Bronx cheer on. The Titanians have had a tractor ray for ages \u2014 he sent me complete dope on it \u2014 and the Jovians \u2019ve got \u2019em both. We\u2019ll have \u2019em in three days, and it ought to be fairly simple to dope out the opposite of a tractor, too \u2014 a pusher or pressor beam.\u201d \u2014 from Spacehounds of IPC <\/em>by Edward Elmer \u201cDoc\u201d Smith<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If science fiction had anything to say about it, tractor beams would already be commonplace, and we could thank Star Trek<\/a> and Star Wars<\/a> for their proliferation.<\/p>\n But tractor beams do already exist, though their reach is only microscopic.<\/p>\n How they work \u2014 <\/u>Microscopic tractor beams are employed in devices called optical tweezers. Optical tweezers use lasers to move microscopic objects like atoms and nanoparticles. They\u2019re used in biology, nanotechnology, and medicine.<\/p>\n These tractor beams work on microscopic objects, but they aren\u2019t strong enough to pull larger macroscopic objects.<\/p>\n What\u2019s new \u2014 <\/u>Now, a team of researchers has successfully demonstrated a macroscopic tractor beam. They published the paper explaining their work in the journal Optics Express<\/em>. Its title is \u201cMacroscopic laser pulling based on the Knudsen force in rarefied gas,\u201d<\/a> and the lead author is Lei Wang<\/a> from Qingdao University of Science and Technology in China.<\/p>\n \u201cIn previous studies, the light-pulling force was too small to pull a macroscopical object,\u201d said Wang. \u201cWith our new approach, the light pulling force has a much larger amplitude. In fact, it is more than three orders of magnitudes larger than the light pressure used to drive a solar sail, which uses the momentum of photons to exert a small pushing force.\u201d<\/p>\n This macroscopic tractor beam only works under particular laboratory conditions, so it\u2019s a demonstration, not a practical development. At least not yet.<\/p>\n Digging into the details \u2014 <\/u>First of all, it works on purpose-built things: macroscopic graphene-SiO2 composite objects that the researchers built for the experiments. Secondly, it works in a rarefied gaseous environment, which has a much lower pressure than Earth\u2019s atmosphere. While that limits their effectiveness here on Earth, not every world has as much atmospheric pressure as our planet.<\/p>\n \u201cOur technique provides a noncontact and long-distance pulling approach, which may be useful for various scientific experiments,\u201d said Wang. \u201cThe rarefied gas environment we used to demonstrate the technique is similar to what is found on Mars. Therefore, it might have the potential for one day manipulating vehicles or aircraft on Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n Their device works on the principle of gas heating. A laser heats the composite objects, but one side is hotter than the other. Gas molecules on the back side receive more energy, which pulls the object. Combined with the lower pressure in the rarefied gas environment, the object moves.<\/p>\n The researchers built a torsional \u2014 or turning \u2014 pendulum device made from their graphene-SiO2<\/sub> composite structure to demonstrate the laser-pulling phenomenon. That demonstration made it visible to the naked eye. They used another device to measure the effect.<\/p>\n \u201cWe found that the pulling force was more than three orders of magnitudes larger than the light pressure,\u201d said Wang. \u201cIn addition, the laser pulling is repeatable, and the force can be tuned by changing the laser power.\u201d<\/p>\n Other researchers have tackled tractor beams<\/a> in recent years with mixed results. NASA was interested in pursuing the idea of using tractor beams to gather samples with the MSL Curiosity surface rover. One of Curiosity\u2019s instruments is the ChemCam. It includes a laser that vaporizes rock or regolith and then a micro imager to measure its components spectroscopically. But NASA wondered if a tractor beam could draw tiny particles from the vaporized sample into the rover for a complete study.<\/p>\n A NASA NIAC presentation<\/a> from 2010 said: \u201cIf Tractor Beam Technology was included in a \u2018ChemCam2\u2019 to pull in dust and plasma particles, tractor beams could add a suite of additional science capabilities:<\/p>\n The same presentation said that tractor beams could be used to collect particles from comet tails, ice plumes on Enceladus, and even clouds in Earth\u2019s atmosphere or other atmospheres.<\/p>\n That never materialized, but it illustrates how compelling the idea is.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next \u2014<\/u> This new research produced interesting results, though it\u2019s nowhere near an actual practical implementation. There\u2019s a lot of work and engineering needed before it even approaches practicality. For one thing, there needs to be a well-understood theoretical underpinning that describes how the effect works on objects with different sizes and shapes and with lasers of different powers in different atmospheres.<\/p>\n The researchers know this, of course, but point out that it\u2019s still an effective demonstration of feasibility.<\/p>\n \u201cOur work demonstrates that flexible light manipulation of a macroscopical object is feasible when the interactions between the light, object, and medium are carefully controlled,\u201d said Wang. \u201cIt also shows the complexity of laser-matter interactions and that many phenomena are far from being understood on both macro and micro scales.\u201d<\/p>\n The critical part is that this study moves tractor beams from the microscopic to the macroscopic. That\u2019s a significant threshold that\u2019s difficult to cross. \u201cThis work expands the scope of optical pulling from microscale to macroscale, which has great potential in macroscale optical manipulations,\u201d the authors write in their conclusion.<\/p>\n Spacecraft may very well use tractor beams one day, but they\u2019re unlikely to look anything like they do in science fiction. Star Wars, <\/em>Star Trek, <\/em>and Spacehounds of IPC <\/em>all feature tractor beams in combat and conflict.<\/p>\n But in reality, they could turn out to be valuable scientific tools.<\/p>\n This article was originally published on <\/strong><\/em>Universe Today<\/strong><\/a> by Evan Gough. Read the original article here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/5b53d5a1-889d-4e72-8544-b65f3f1a886f-curiosity-chemcam-laser.jpg\")
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