'Tractor beam' grabs beads with sound waves

[uncleruckus]

Engineers in the UK have developed a system that can grab, hold and move small objects without touching them, using "holograms" made of sound waves.

It offers the kind of remote control that naturally draws comparison with the "tractor beams" of science fiction.

So far the team has tested the design on small pea-sized objects, which they can manipulate from 30-40cm away.

Writing in Nature Communications, they suggest the work could help develop remote surgical instruments.

In essence, an object sitting in a "quiet" region of space can be held there if it is surrounded by very high-intensity sound waves. As the pattern of that boundary shifts, the object can be moved around.

The researchers programmed a grid of small speakers to emit ultrasound in intricate, shifting patterns, crafting shapes from the interacting waves that resembled tweezers, bottles, and tiny tornado-like twisters.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34647921

 

[Reddington]

Tractor beams aren't as impressive as replicators and the teleport system, how far are we from that?

 

[uncleruckus]

Don't have the slightest clue how far we are along the way into developing such stuff you speak of, but i have noticed a certain pattern these day's is like science and technology is developing and producing stuff these day's at the speed of light, they have absolute no chill.

 

[syntax]

Tractor beams aren't as impressive as replicators and the teleport system, how far are we from that?

Teleportation sounds so cool but it will never become a reality because of the law of physics. Instantaneous teleportation implies travelling faster than the speed of light, which no matter or anti matter has done (as far as we kno). Nice to think about, but it's never going to happen cuz we'll never be able to transport matter at the speed of light or even near it.

@Uncle-ruckus I remember seeing this last year, same concept using waves but in water instead of sound. This seems so much more practical than physical water waves though. Hm that probably means they could do this with photons since light has wave properties.

 

[Jubba_Man]

Teleportation sounds so cool but it will never become a reality because of the law of physics. Instantaneous teleportation implies travelling faster than the speed of light, which no matter or anti matter has done (as far as we kno). Nice to think about, but it's never going to happen cuz we'll never be able to transport matter at the speed of light or even near it.

Teleportation doesn't require local FTL, which is what violates relativistic laws. You're confusing the fact that quantum entanglement "propagates" information locally faster than light, which is actually not correct, with the fact that entanglement can be used to teleport a "quantum state". The former is the wrong interpretation taken from popular science, as if you consider two entangled particles that are say in an indeterminate state between "spin up" and "spin down" (the actual spin is the linear superposition of the two states), and if you were to measure the spin of one of the particles and find it to be "spin up", you would automatically know the other particle is "spin down" because you've collapsed the wave function even if the other particle is on the other side of the galaxy. That is what is meant by the fact that the information travels faster than light, but you can't use this to have an instantaneous text conversation with a xalimo on the other side of the galaxy. There are other phenomenon like this throughout physics, such as the so-called Gaussian wave-packet representing a free quantum particle moving through empty space (no potential):

The phase velocity of the packet can be greater than the speed of light, but it has no physical meaning. It is the group velocity of the wave that transmits energy (or information) and is thus physical, and that must be less than or equal to the speed of light. If you have a wave packet with a group velocity > c, then you are you are violating the principle of Lorentz invariance (the fundamental axiom of special relativity). When you allow for this, you can break causality and basically build crazy stuff like the Tachyonic Antitelephone.

Going back to teleportation, in principle teleporting fermions (matter particles) violates no known law of physics. It has been done with atoms, so there's no physical reason right now to think why it can't be done with macro-molecules. It just won't be done using quantum entanglement. From an experimental and engineering point of view, I have to say the teleporter in Star Trek is a complete fantasy that will continue to remain science fiction. Even if you could get past all of the insane technical hurdles, and there's no shortage of them, you would essentially need to kill the person you are teleporting.

 

[syntax]

@Darod_Supremacy lol good post. I was going to mention quantum entanglement, but who the f*ck wants to explain that on a forum like this. Looks like you did a good job of it though Shit just reminded me why Quantum Mechanics was my least favourite college class lol

You right about needing to kill someone to teleport, we can't expect the body to be fine after one's atoms being separated. But fermions haven't been teleported themselves (none of the particles), only the information of the particles are being transmitted across space - not the fermions.Or any Natoms and If I'm wrong please atleast link me the abstract of the study proving me wrong.

 

[Jubba_Man]

@Darod_Supremacy lol good post. I was going to mention quantum entanglement, but who the f*ck wants to explain that on a forum like this. Looks like you did a good job of it though Shit just reminded me why Quantum Mechanics was my least favourite college class lol

Oh man, don't remind me. Brings back memories of 4 hour sleep cycles and spending hours upon hours on a damn single problem set. QM only started to make sense to me in its third iteration in grad-school. Propagators, translators, time-evolution, QM dynamics, Heisenberg/Schrodinger picture and how to transform between the two formalisms was fun stuff and actually pretty useful for practical applications. There's this crazy beast beyond all of that though called "quantum field theory". That shit will fry your brain for good, sxb.

You right about needing to kill someone to teleport, we can't expect the body to be fine after one's atoms being separated. But fermions haven't been teleported themselves (none of the particles), only the information of the particles are being transmitted across space - not the fermions. If I'm wrong please atleast link me the abstract of the study proving me wrong.

edited- atoms to particles.

Upon a little further research, you're absolutely right. It looks there has been no teleportation of fermions in the literature, just teleportation of their quantum states. It's interesting as I'll admit this (atomic physics) isn't my field at all so I guess even I somehow bought into the media hype. The case for teleportation is looking even more damned.

 

[syntax]

Loool yeah man my first QM class was very humbling cuz before that I thought I was pretty damn good at physics and math. That shit jus made me realize I'm just a pleb

What are you studying for ur post grad?. If I don't grt a sick job after I'm done my bachelor's I've narrowed my post grad studies options to a normal MEng, bio informatics, or quantum computing

 

[Jubba_Man]

Loool yeah man my first QM class was very humbling cuz before that I thought I was pretty damn good at physics and math. That shit jus made me realize I'm just a pleb

And then they say rocket science is hard. lol

I still remember the quantum final to this day. Was one unforgettably brutal day. 9 AM exam, and it was worth 50% of the final grade. Only got an A because the class average on that monster was a whopping 35%. All those clueless Asians who tried to get away with memorizing.

Nothing more dangerous than a prof that can't teach and gives the brutal exams, but that probably describes 90% of all professors in any given engineering department. IMO, QM is one of those classes where you need a really sick prof who can explain everything the "right way" if that makes sense. You have to say everything very very precisely, or you very easily end up sounding like a crackpot who doesn't know what he's talking about to people who do understand QM.

What are you studying for ur post grad?. If I don't grt a sick job after I'm done my bachelor's I've narrowed my post grad studies options to a normal MEng, bio informatics, or quantum computing

Gotta be a little vague here as I'm not trying to qarxis myself.

I work broadly within the field of condensed matter theory. Just wrapping up my MS thesis. Not sure if I'll continue along theoretical physics or switch gears to EE for the doctorate, as it's a lot easier to get industrial positions coming from an engineering department than a physics one I find. A lot of my colleagues, especially those doing the fancy work in particle and astro, don't even plan to stay in physics after they finish their PhDs but plan to go to wall street and peddle financial derivatives to slow bankers. Those guys break the bank, but the work looks pretty damn boring and unfulfilling even if they do start out at low 6 figures.

You can't go wrong with quantum computing or bioinformatics, though. Both fields are expected to explode in the upcoming years, both in industry and academia. You should also consider looking into an emerging field called spintronics that's at the intersection of physics and EE. That field will also grow exponentially with time. What were you thinking of doing your M.eng in?

 

[syntax]

Nothing more dangerous than a prof that can't teach and gives the brutal exams, but that probably describes 90% of all professors in any given engineering department. IMO, QM is one of those classes where you need a really sick prof who can explain everything the "right way" if that makes sense.

lol so true. Why the f*ck do they always hire some indian/chinese fob we can't understand.

If I end up doing a MEng I'm gnna just continue my current program, software engineering.

 

[syntax]

I work broadly within the field of condensed matter theory. Just wrapping up my MS thesis. Not sure if I'll continue along theoretical physics or switch gears to EE for the doctorate, as it's a lot easier to get industrial positions coming from an engineering department than a physics one I find. A lot of my colleagues, especially those doing the fancy work in particle and astro, don't even plan to stay in physics after they finish their PhDs but plan to go to wall street and peddle financial derivatives to slow bankers. Those guys break the bank, but the work looks pretty damn boring and unfulfilling even if they do start out at low 6 figures.

Damn thats really cool man

17-18 year old me wanted to be you lol . This was my first major https://uwaterloo.ca/find-out-more/programs/mathematical-physics
Great program and I met some of the brightest minds that were my age. The only problem was, like you pointed out, I quickly realized there were two possible outcomes; academia or working in another industry (finance, engineering, programming, etc...). So I quickly changed programs after that. Had some good times though, including seeing Prof. Stephen Hawkins when my school opened their state of the art Quantum-Nano research centre. kkkkk I'll be very impressed if someone can spot me out in this video and yes I am in it.

 

[HOW CAN SHE SLAP?!?]

Not impressive as Quantum Mechanics telaportation.