THE END IS HERE!

Rock ‘n Roll Tractor Beam: Sound Waves Move Objects in Midair

Too bad for The Galactic Empire that sound doesn’t travel in space. Scientists in Spain and the United Kingdom have made a device that constructs acoustic holograms to manipulate objects in midair. It can produce complex virtual forms like tweezers that can rotate objects and move them horizontally and vertically. 

So far, the system, called an ultrasonic phased array, can trap and manipulate only tiny polystyrene spheres measuring about 0.04 inches in diameter. It works by timing the production of ultrasonic waves so they operate in concert to produce 3-D waves out of a single surface placed above or below the object. 

“In our device we manipulate objects in midair and seemingly defy gravity,” said University of Sussex informatics expert Sriram Subramanian, “Here we individually control dozens of loudspeakers to tell us an optimal solution to generate an acoustic hologram that can manipulate multiple objects in real-time without contact.”

The researchers say this advance opens the door for acoustic levitation to “emerge as the optimum mechanisms for tractor beams or containerless transportation,” they write in a study published today in the journal Nature Communications. It could also mean a new type of 3-D physical display.