Levitation as a technique generally refers to engineered methods for stably suspending an object against gravity without mechanical contact, using physical forces such as electromagnetic, electrostatic, acoustic, or optical fields. In research and technology, key implementations include magnetic levitation (maglev), which exploits diamagnetism, superconductivity (Meissner effect), or actively controlled electromagnets; acoustic levitation, which uses standing sound waves and radiation pressure; and optical levitation, relying on gradient and scattering forces in tightly focused laser beams. These techniques are used for frictionless transport, high-precision positioning, isolation from vibrational or mechanical perturbations, and containerless processing in materials science and fundamental physics experiments.
A new study in Physical Review Letters demonstrates the levitation of a microparticle using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), having potential implications from biology to quantum computing.
An Iowa State University engineer floats in the air while other researchers hang tight to a metal frame surrounding and supporting their special printer. It's not the usual photo you see in a research paper. Tests aboard ...
Space Exploration
Nov 21, 2024
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Physicists at Purdue are throwing the world's smallest disco party. The disco ball itself is a fluorescent nanodiamond, which they have levitated and spun at incredibly high speeds. The fluorescent diamond emits and scatters ...
Quantum Physics
Aug 14, 2024
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The levitation of microscopic objects in vacuum and the control of their movements while they are suspended was first demonstrated several decades ago. Since then, various research groups have been working on new approaches ...
Splash a few drops of water on a hot pan and if the pan is hot enough, the water will sizzle and the droplets of water seem to roll and float, hovering above the surface.
General Physics
May 24, 2024
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Researchers at the Quantum Machines Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) are studying levitating materials—substances that can remain suspended in a stable position without any physical contact or ...
Condensed Matter
Apr 8, 2024
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2014
In their latest study, a team led by Tracy Northup at the Department of Experimental Physics unveils the successful creation of a levitated nanomechanical oscillator with an ultra-high quality factor, significantly surpassing ...
Nanophysics
Mar 29, 2024
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362
Researchers from Michigan State University and the University of British Columbia have invented a system that can quickly and inexpensively detect airborne viruses using the same technology that enables high-speed trains.
Bio & Medicine
Aug 4, 2023
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133
A team of researchers at the University of Vienna, the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Duisburg-Essen have found a new mechanism that fundamentally alters the interaction between optically levitated nanoparticles. ...
Nanophysics
Aug 29, 2022
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273
Researchers at ETH Zurich have trapped a tiny sphere measuring a hundred nanometres using laser light and slowed down its motion to the lowest quantum mechanical state. This technique could help researchers to study quantum ...
Nanophysics
Jul 15, 2021
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