In a potential breakthrough, scientists have used light to control the motion of a disk floating on a magnetic cushion, a technology that could lead, eventually, to new transportation systems and forms of solar power. (click below to read more)
The technique relies on diamagnetism, the property whereby an object repels magnetic fields. That can produce magnetic levitation, which the scientists in this case used to float a graphite disk atop a group of magnets. The researchers, at Japan's Aoyama Gakuin University, found that they could make the disk move up, down or sideways by applying a laser to different parts of it. The could even make it spin—an effect they duplicated by using sunlight, which drove the disk past 200 revolutions per minute. The effects resulted from light-induced changes in the graphite's temperature.
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