Project Stark

A practical-based approach to the 'fictional' tractor beam and/or hologram technology by capturing and levitating particles in air with the help of lasers & optics.

As reported by UN WHO, Half the world’s people currently live in rural and remote areas. The problem is that most health workers live and work in cities. This imbalance is common to almost all countries and poses a major challenge to the nationwide provision of health services. This situation of blocked access is accentuated in cases of disasters & calamities, where responders are unable to reach the affected. Another problem which arises is that, while working on biohazard research or lethal chemical procedures, close proximity of humans is required, or at least the tools being used to carry out the procedure need to physically interact with the objects, which could increase the risk of contamination. Now, imagine, what if Tractor Beams were real? Instead of just looking cool, they could help in remotely operated procedures on particles, even in inaccessible areas without the need to endanger human lives or any kind of caused contamination.

Medical imaging developed rapidly to play a central role in medicine today by supporting diagnosis and treatment of a disease. Medical imaging is crucial in a variety of medical settings and at all major levels of health care. The use of diagnostic imaging services is essential in confirming, assessing and documenting the course of many diseases and response to treatment. What if Holograms (volumetric displays) were real? Instead of just giving you the feeling of being Tony Stark, they could actually revolutionize the way doctors, architects, engineers and students study and simulate their respective subjects, by providing a superior way of imaging objects.

Now, what if all this was pragmatic instead of fiction, and could be built upon existing technology in cheaper production value which can be accessed by users of most ages and access levels established by their incomes? This solution tries to provide an answer to these questions.

The experimentation concept of this project is based upon the theory described by Arthur Ashkin in his 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics Winning Research of Optical trapping and manipulation of neutral particles using lasers & Optical Levitation by Radiation Pressure.

• A rudimentary apparatus consists of a high-powered class 3B laser diode (≥250mW) with its operational driver along with a convex lens in front to concentrate the beam at a focal point, giving it an 'hourglass' shape, mounted upon a motorized rig connected to a setup protocol.
• Laser light is a Gaussian Beam, and because light carries momentum with it, when a particle is introduced, there's a net momentum upwards for the light. But momentum has to be conserved, so the particle sphere has to be acquiring momentum downwards which pushes it back towards the middle of the beam, and conversely if it had been displaced in the other direction. Theoretically, the particle stays suspended forever in the beam unless acted upon by an external force/air current. This is dubbed a single-beam gradient force trap.
• The entire suspension setup then can be moved in order to move the particle, thus directing it to our will. This movement can pre-programmed as well to perform the required procedure. This movement can be accelerated to emulate objects, due to retinal persistence, and thus project volumetric displays in omnidirectional 3-dimendional space as well. The setup is accompanied by a smartphone app to provide a platform for movement mapping & tracking for better user experience.

A practical version of the tractor beam could help in biology and medicine (guided surgery/procedures on single bacterium, a cell like a sperm cell or a blood cell, or a molecule like DNA even remotely), nanochemistry (to perform complex reactions without actually needing to touch the apparatus), nanoengineering (to study and build materials from single molecules), quantum optics and quantum optomechanics (to study the interaction of single particles with light). Without the need of touching the subjects and tools, the risk of contamination decreases exponentially. This also enables doctors or other professionals to operate in remote regions without being actually present, reducing the deaths caused by the unavailability of surgeons or specialists in the area. This option precedes the robotic help currently being utilized in the medical sector as the device does not require special attachments for different tools, and furthermore the tools do not need to physically enter subject.

A volumetric display (hologram) could provide clear cross-sections of organs and paths of the patient before performing surgery, or better emulate architectural or mechanical designs before construction. They could help in better study of already existing structures by displaying specific sections in three-dimensional perspective for better study. Volumetric display increases the effectiveness of medical imaging by providing 3-Dimensional cross sections that can be viewed by any angle and perspective my multiple viewers at the same time.

I currently study as a science student with Computer Science major in a public school. The opportunities and resources are low here for students, as the student body of the nation as a whole is mostly focused on clearing exams to get into a college, which hinders the development of ideas outside of the curriculum, or even the resources to actualize them. Hence, when it comes to prototyping, I need to think outside of the box and utilize the means at my disposal to the best extent, which has led me to some exciting and bizarre scenarios as well. This didn't stop me from losing hope altogether, but slowly build towards realizing my goals. I am currently the president of my school's technology club and regularly work with and mentor other students in the school's innovation society. I also take up volunteering lectures in basic physics and engineering and aeronautics in partnership with local students of other schools who come from economically weaker sections. This has led me to work and socialize with bright young minds and sharing of stories, problems and ideas. 

The idea for the device is derived by the concept introduced by Arthur Ashkin in his research. The consecutive experimentation proved the theory to be concrete in its actualization. The same research is currently being carried out by optics research labs of various universities. I have spent numerous hours reading their published papers on the outcomes of their evaluations regarding the same. While the testing and experiential effectiveness can only be assessed after the constructions of a working model, the current statistics by organizations such as WHO already indicate enough advantages of robotic help in the medical sector. The concept is a new and better version of current technologies only seen and described in science fiction, thus only the applications can be discussed at the moment before any corporeal experience. 

Although, if you ask any other human or science student, like I have, the idea seems as cool as ever.  

• Inspired from the hologram technology scenes in 'Iron Man' & 'Star Wars', to simulate interactive projections.
• Manipulating suspended particles via a concentrated light source, much like the tractor beam shown in 'Star Trek' & 'Star Wars', proves to be a viable medium.
• Further studies demonstrate the need of such technology in the medical & chemistry sector as well, in order to operate on microscopic elements efficiently.
• Volumetric Displays produced this way are far superior to conventional imaging being used currently in studies.
• I remember the scene in Iron Man (2008), when Tony Stark was designing his suit and interacting with various parts on how they would fit him, or in the Iron Man 2 (2010), when he used his hologram technology to figure out a new element in his basement. I expect that level of volumetric display to be developed by this concept and technology in the coming future.

• The foremost objective is to provide a better way of medical imaging in diagnosis.
• Within the year, I expect to build a working prototype with refined drivers and accompanying software, in order to begin testing in different environments.
• Further, after the testing is concluded to a satisfactory extent, I intend to begin networking with professionals and specialists for their opinions and experience with the device in real world use-cases.
• The product has major potential to be commercialized and used as a tool as seen and described in movies and science fiction for the general public. But that goal is way down the timeline, only after the technology has planted its roots deep in the medical, sciences, education, research and development sectors.

single-beam gradient force trap are scientific instruments that use a highly focused laser beam to hold and move microscopic and sub-microscopic objects like atoms, nanoparticles and droplets, in a manner similar to tweezers. If the object is held in air or vacuum without additional support, it can be called optical levitation.

The laser light provides an attractive or repulsive force (typically on the order of piconewtons), depending on the relative refractive index between particle and surrounding medium. Levitation is possible if the force of the light counters the force of gravity. The trapped particles are usually micron-sized, or even smaller. Dielectric and absorbing particles can be trapped, too.

The detection of optical scattering and the gradient forces on micron sized particles was first reported in 1970 by Arthur Ashkin, a scientist working at Bell Labs. Years later, Ashkin and colleagues reported the first observation of what is now commonly referred to as an optical tweezer: a tightly focused beam of light capable of holding microscopic particles stable in three dimensions. In 2018, Ashkin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this development. 

In the late 1980s, Arthur Ashkin and Joseph M. Dziedzic demonstrated the first application of the technology to the biological sciences, using it to trap an individual tobacco mosaic virus and E coli bacterium. Throughout the 1990s and afterwards, researchers like Carlos Bustamante, James Spudich, and Steven Block pioneered the use of optical trap force spectroscopy to characterize molecular-scale biological motors. These molecular motors are ubiquitous in biology, and are responsible for locomotion and mechanical action within the cell. Optical traps allowed these biophysicists to observe the forces and dynamics of nanoscale motors at the single-molecule level; optical trap force-spectroscopy has since led to greater understanding of the stochastic nature of these force-generating molecules.

Optical tweezers are capable of manipulating nanometer and micron-sized dielectric particles by exerting extremely small forces via a highly focused laser beam. The beam is typically focused by sending it through a microscope objective. The narrowest point of the focused beam, known as the beam waist, contains a very strong electric field gradient. Dielectric particles are attracted along the gradient to the region of strongest electric field, which is the center of the beam. The laser light also tends to apply a force on particles in the beam along the direction of beam propagation. This is due to conservation of momentum: photons that are absorbed or scattered by the tiny dielectric particle impart momentum to the dielectric particle. This is known as the scattering force and results in the particle being displaced slightly downstream from the exact position of the beam waist, as seen in the figure. Optical traps are very sensitive instruments and are capable of the manipulation and detection of sub-nanometer displacements for sub-micron dielectric particles. For this reason, they can be used to manipulate and study single molecules by interacting with a bead that has been attached to that molecule.

I project to finish up the prototyping and pilot program for this technology in the next year, and thus expect to start trial cases and user experience with a pool of at least 10-20 professionals and specialists, along with 10-20 general working citizens and students of various fields.

Biggest hurdle is time, as is with anything. To juggle everything duty and responsibility with an ever approaching deadline. Once I expect to dedicate full time to the project, the questions comes on financial support for development and networking support for professional contacts, for real world testing.

The project is currently being developed independently.

With the current technology, I expect the media and imaging tools to be streamlined. Thus, creating value for the using industries/companies/professionals to generate better product, operate progressively and ultimately drive up revenue. The other case is or research, development and education which invests in the long term future of the economy.

On a smaller scale, as is my situation right now, I expect to develop on grants. Once the prototyping and testing is done, I hope to market beta access of the product before ultimately upgrading the setup for more industrial use with better materials to marketing to professionals on a larger scale.