Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley Researchers Record First Direct
Observations of Quantum Effects in an Optomechanical System
A long-time staple of science fiction is the tractor beam, a
technology in which light is used to move massive objects – recall the tractor
beam in the movie Star Wars that captured the Millennium Falcon and pulled it
into the Death Star. While tractor beams of this sort remain science fiction,
beams of light today are being used to mechanically manipulate atoms or tiny
glass beads, with rapid progress being made to control increasingly larger
objects.