Researchers create tractor beam in lab

In a feat straight out of science fiction, physicists at the Scotland's University of Dundee used an ultrasound array to exert force on an object and pull it towards the energy source, BBC reported.

This is said to be the first time a beam of the kind had been used to move anything bigger than microscopic targets.

The technology could find applications in medicine to develop ultrasound-based clinical techniques.

Dundee researchers worked with those in Southampton and Illinois on the project, the results of which had been published in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters.

In a similar project, the same team from the university's Institute for Medical Science and Technology (Imsat) used a ''sonic screwdriver'', on the lines of a similar device in the BBC America teleserial Doctor Who,  also using ultrasound.

BBC quoted Dr Christine Demore of Imsat as saying, this was the first time anyone had demonstrated a working acoustic tractor beam and the first time such a beam had been used to move anything bigger than microscopic targets.

She said that the researchers were able to show that one could exert sufficient force on an object around one centimeter in size to hold or move it, by directing twin beams of energy from the ultrasound array towards the back of the object.

Tractor beams - devices with the ability to attract one object to another from a distance - had only been seen in science fiction films, International Business Time reported.

Dr Demore said that far from being just confined to the realms of science fiction, the technology held out significant potential by targeting and attracting individual cells.

She added, the team's research could lead to big advances in the application of ultrasound-based techniques in sectors such as healthcare.

The team's work formed part of a £3.6 million programme combining expertise at four UK universities - Dundee, Glasgow, Southampton and Bristol - and industrial partners. The results were published in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters.

International Business Times quoted professor Sandy Cochran of the University of Dundee as saying, the partnership with industry had been vital to developing devices and capabilities that were delivering unprecedented sophistication in the field of ultrasound.