University boffins are boldly going where only Captain Kirk has gone before.
Scientists from St Andrews University have invented a real-life tractor beam, as featured in the classic sci-fi series Star Trek.
The discovery will for the first time allow a beam of light to attract things or even “Klingon” to them.
The USS Enterprise in the TV series and films used a tractor beam to snare other spaceships and large objects hurtling through space.
Although the breakthrough by academics at St Andrews and the Institute of Scientific Instruments (ISI) in the Czech Republic is not quite that ambitious, it could lead to more efficient methods of medical testing, such as the examination of blood samples.
Light manipulation techniques have existed since the 1970s, but this is the first time a light beam has been used to draw objects towards the light source, albeit at a microscopic level.
The scientists have found a way to generate a special optical field that efficiently reverses radiation pressure of light.
The team, led by Dr Tomas Cizmar, Research Fellow in the School of Medicine at St Andrews University, with Dr Oto Brzobohaty and Professor Pavel Zemanek, both of ISI, discovered a technique which will allow them to provide ‘negative’ force acting upon minuscule particles.
Professor Zemanek said: “The whole team have spent a number of years investigating various configurations of particles delivery by light.
“I am proud our results were recognised in this very competitive environment and I am looking forward to new experiments and applications. It is a very exciting time.”
Normally when matter and light interact, the solid object is pushed by the light and carried away in the stream of photons.
Such radiation force was first identified by Johanes Kepler when observing that tails of comets point away from the sun.
Over recent years, researchers have realised that, while this is the case for most of the optical fields, there is a space of parameters when this force reverses.
The scientists at St Andrews and ISI have now demonstrated the first experimental realisation of this concept together with a number of exciting applications for bio-medical photonics and other disciplines.
The exciting aspect is that the occurrence of negative force is very specific to the size and composition of the object.
This in turn allows optical sorting of tiny objects in a simple and inexpensive device.
Interestingly, the scientists identified certain conditions in which objects held by the “tractor” beam force-field rearranged themselves to form a structure which made the beam even stronger.
Dr Cizmar said: “Because of the similarities between optical and acoustic particle manipulation, we anticipate that this concept will provide inspiration for exciting future studies in areas outside the field of photonics.”
Dr Brzobohaty said: “These methods are opening new opportunities for fundamental phonics as well as applications for life-sciences.”