Scientists have taken a cutting-edge development from 2018 and pushed it even further, creating a levitation ray capable of lifting microscopic material. At the heart of this innovation is a phenomenon called radiation pressure—the force exerted by light when it interacts with matter.
While normally too weak to lift heavy objects, researchers have discovered ways to amplify and manipulate this force, allowing them to trap, move, and control microscopic particles using light.
This new research builds off the 2018 work of physicist Arthur Ashkin, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on optical tweezers, which use focused laser beams to hold and move tiny objects. However, scientists are going even further now, using a laser-based levitation ray to manipulate charged particles, nanospheres, and even biological cells.
Researchers at the University of Florence detailed their new development in a paper featured in the journal Optica. In it, they discuss how they successfully created a system where electrically charged glass nanospheres could be trapped and levitated using laser beams of different colors.
By carefully adjusting the frequency and intensity of the laser beams, the researchers could make the particles oscillate and move in controlled ways—a crucial step toward developing a more practical levitation ray. Of course, we’re still far from lifting spaceships or humans. But, some possible real-world use cases are already emerging.
The 2018 development of optical tweezers are already being used to manipulate bacteria, cells, and DNA strands in biological research. Additionally, laser trapping like what the researchers demonstrated here could allow scientists to manufacture more advanced nanoscale structures without touching them.
A levitation ray could help reduce contamination and defects in these experiments. And, of course, there’s also the possible usage that this tech could find in space exploration—where futuristic spacecraft could rely on laser-based levitation to capture even more space debris.
For now, though, the researchers have only managed to use their levitation rays to move small, microscopic objects. Like anything in the scientific world, though, developments move fast, and we never know when researchers will take the next step in their quest to create a real-life levitation ray or tractor beam.
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