Ultrasonic levitation (1)

Scientists can float objects in mid-air with ultrasonic speakers, using just the power of sound.   Watch the videos…

Researchers can levitate small objects and control them much better than ever before, moving them in three dimensions. They have also developed virtual ‘holograms,’ made by the sound waves that can ‘grab’ objects.

Holograms are tridimensional light-fields that can be projected from a two-dimensional surface. Image courtesy of Asier Marzo, Bruce Drinkwater and Sriram Subramanian © 2015

Holographic acoustic elements for manipulation of levitated objects by Asier Marzo, Sue Ann Seah, Bruce W. Drinkwater, Deepak Ranjan Sahoo, Benjamin Long and Sriram Subramanian is published in Nature Communications.
Caption: Acoustic holograms are projected from a flat surface and contrary to traditional holograms, they exert considerable forces on the objects contained within.