In a Galaxy far far away, a lowly Corellion Corvette gets chased down by a daunting Imperial Star Destroyer which looms ominously into view. As it closes in on it's target, it fires and captures it's puny prey reeling it in on an invisible line through the emptiness of space. This as everyone knows is the beginning of Star Wars and as many will know, the weapon that the Star Destroyer fires is a tractor beam designed to capture other space vessels intact. Today Australian scientists have made a significant step towards the development of a real life actual Tractor Beam.
According to Inside Science:
The device works by shining a hollow laser beam around tiny glass particles. The air surrounding the particle heats up, while the dark center of the beam stays cool. When the particle starts to drift out of the middle and into the bright laser beam, the force of heated air molecules bouncing around and hitting the particle's surface is enough to nudge it back to the center.
A small amount of light also seeps into the darker middle part of the beam, heating the air on one side of the particle and pushing it along the length of the laser beam. If another such laser is lined up on the opposite side of the beam, the speed and direction the particle moves can be easily manipulated by changing the brightness of the beams.
This however won't work in the vacuum of space yet. So for now I guess we can only start dreaming of huge construction projects crane-free but with multiple tractor beams transporting heavy construction beams up to the top of large skyscrapers. That or at least I'll be able to pretend to be a Jedi once they make these mobile phone sized.
Source: Inside Science
