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Physicists at the Australian National University have created a tractor beam in water.

A research team from the  have generated complex  driven by three-dimensional s. Their results show possibility of remote manipulation of  objects and were published in  this Sunday.

As Dr Horst Punzmann told ABC, "A  is a popular term which, I think it captures quite well the basic principle. You put an object there and it propagates, it floats backwards to the source of the wave".  Professor Michael Shats clarified that "We found that above a certain height, these complex three-dimensional waves generate  on the surface of the . The tractor beam is just one of the patterns, they can be inward flows, outward flows or ".

Professor Michael Shats spoke about the s: "First I thought it was impossible and I thought that it was the effect of the boundaries nearby. So the first idea was to build a bigger tank. We did, and it worked". As Dr Horst Punzmann noted, "The ability to move films on the ocean, like oil films... would be an opportunity". Professor Michael Shats explained that "The power requirements for the wave maker are relatively small because we generate only the motion in the top layer".

To  visualise the three-dimensional flows and ,  was used and help was provided to the researchers by . To create a figure of , finite-time  analysis was used.

This study was supported by the , the  and the  (BSF).


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