Search by tag «Tractor Beam» 3 results

• Scientists Propose Tractor Beam Concept to Capture Particles Using Light

  Physicists from ITMO University have developed a model of an optical tractor beam able to capture particles based on new artificial materials. Such a beam is capable of moving particles or cells towards the radiation source. The study showed that hyperbolic metasurfaces have great potential for experiments on the creation of the tractor beam, as well as for its practical applications. The results have been published in ACS Photonics.

  27.11.2018

• COMSOL DAY: Tractor Beams, Optical Traps and Nanoparticle Manipulation

  At the COMSOL Day in Moscow, head of ITMO’s International Research Laboratory of Nano-Opto-Mechanics Alexander Shalin gave a talk on the new algorithms for multiphysics modeling and optical power calculations using COMSOL Multiphysics software. He demonstrated how the program can be used to model the excitement of unidirectional surface plasmon-polaritons and their optomechanical effect on nano-objects on metal surfaces. Shalin’s team uses these methods to acquire fundamental results in optomechanics and improve the qualities of such technologies as tractor beams, optical trapping, positioning of nanoparticles and other.

  03.11.2017

• Probability Waves Could Be Used as “Tractor Beams” to Control Nanoobjects

  Tractor beams first became a topic of conversation two centuries ago in science fiction: the term implied a beam of light that could lift and move various objects. It is commonly associated with aliens pulling objects from Earth aboard their flying saucers. An idea that seemed improbable some decades ago has become real: scientists all over the world are coming up with ways of moving objects. Although, for now, these “tractor beams” can only move nanoparticles. An international research group that includes a scientist from ITMO University has contributed to this field of study: they have proven that de Broglie waves (probability waves), which in quantum mechanics denote a matter wave, are also capable of displaying the properties of a tractor beam.

  05.06.2017