Post by ray on May 3, 2020 22:40:01 GMT
by Meriame Berboucha, laser physicistLight is made up of photons that exert a force known as radiation pressure. This force is due to the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter. This can be absorption, reflection or a bit of both. Optical levitation is where you can use the radiation pressure force to overcome the gravitational force causing an object to levitate. A laser beam has an intensity profile where typically the intensity is higher in the center, which means there are more photons coming out at the center of a laser beam. More photons indicate that there is a larger radiation pressure. This is what is used to levitate small objects which are comparable to the size of the laser beam.
I’ve seen this for myself with my own eyes when I was shadowing some researchers at Imperial College London and it’s honestly incredible. Think about it, you can levitate stuff with just light. Hands down one of the coolest things I’ve seen.
