Scientists Develop Small-Scale Tractor Beam

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It’s not exactly Star Trek yet, but scientists at New York University have worked out how to move around tiny silica spheres using beams of light.

In a paper entitled “Optical Conveyors: A Class of Active Tractor Beams,” David Ruffner and David Grier describe how they were able to pull 30 micrometer-sized silica spheres suspended in water, towards a laser source, the site reports. Check out the video above to see how the Bessel beams work.

While it’s only on a miniscule scale — we’re talking molecules, here — the discovery gets us one step closer to moving a chair a la Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

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