Fiber Optic Spanner (Wrench) Developed

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Fiber Optic Spanner (Wrench) Developed

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 4, 2012 @02:15PM from the nanites-need-tools-too dept.

xclr8r writes "A technique to use fiber optics to adjust microscopic particles has been developed. 'Rather than an actual physical device that wraps around a cell or other microscopic particle to apply rotational force, the spanner (the British term for a wrench) is created when two laser beams — emitted by a pair of optical fibers — strike opposite sides of the microscopic object, trapping and holding it in place. By slightly offsetting the fibers, the beams can impart a small twisting force, causing the object to rotate in place. It is possible to create rotation along any axis and in any direction, depending on the positioning of the fibers.' Applications of this technology can be used in a number of ways, including cancer research. This technology could be used to actually manipulate DNA. Associate Professor of Physics Samarendra Mohanty states that macroscale applications are a possibility, including 'direct conversion of solar energy to mechanical energy,' or possibly using it to 'simulate an environment in which photons radiated from the sun could propel the reflective motors in solar sails, a promising future technology for deep-space travel.'"

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Still by Jimbob+The+Mighty · 2012-12-04 14:24 · Score: 4, Insightful

Still waiting on the sonic screwdriver...
1. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-04 14:32 · Score: 1
  
  I already have one. It makes noise, lights up, and it's, well, a screw driver. I can even change the bit.
2. Re:Still by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 14:32 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  You could probably make one if you really wanted.
  I mean, a simple tone generator, and some variable impedence circuits attached to some high power tansducers with a waveguide cup, and you are there.
  All you have to do, is ensure that the tones emitted by the transducers are offset a small fraction of a wavelength of the tone frequency, such that a reinforcement peak forms and "rolls" around the inside of the cavity. Basically an ultrasonic motor, but with just the stators.
  Would also work wonders for busting up rust on a rusty bolt.
3. Re:Still by ajlitt · 2012-12-04 15:55 · Score: 1
  
  However, Inspector Spacetime is pleased.
4. Re:Still by DigiShaman · 2012-12-04 16:11 · Score: 1
  
  With regards to rusty bolts. Use Liquid Wrench. It's messy (especially if you're crawling under a car to work), but that stuff works miracles. The last thing you want to do is break off the stud with the bolt still attached. That will ruin your day!
  
  --
  Life is not for the lazy.
5. Re:Still by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 16:15 · Score: 2
  
  The "sonic screwdriver" would work best with a penetrating oil like liquid wrench anyway. The oil would improve phonon conduction in the bolt.
  It would basically be the same as gently tapping the head of the rusted bolt with a hammer after being sprayed, only more controlled, and with additional resonant effects in play.
  Too strong of a transducer might fatigue the metal of the bolt though. Try to avoid the ones that can "homogenize" tissue samples, and you should be fine. :D
6. Re:Still by cyn1c77 · 2012-12-04 16:26 · Score: 1
  
  You could probably make one if you really wanted.
  I mean, a simple tone generator, and some variable impedence circuits attached to some high power tansducers with a waveguide cup, and you are there.
  All you have to do, is ensure that the tones emitted by the transducers are offset a small fraction of a wavelength of the tone frequency, such that a reinforcement peak forms and "rolls" around the inside of the cavity. Basically an ultrasonic motor, but with just the stators.
  Would also work wonders for busting up rust on a rusty bolt.
  But it would also loosen all of the other bolts that were in the vicinity of the bolt you were trying to tighten!
  And nothing currently existing beats a screwdriver for torquing the bolt that last bit so that it elastically deforms and stays tight.
7. Re:Still by JWSmythe · 2012-12-04 16:35 · Score: 1
  
  Thor's seemed to work pretty well. Too bad we lost the tech aeons ago.
  
  --
  Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
8. Re:Still by EETech1 · 2012-12-04 16:41 · Score: 2
  
  PB B'laster kicks liquid wrenches butt...
  If you've never tried it, you have to!
  Cheers!
9. Re:Still by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 17:05 · Score: 1
  
  How nice of you to assume I don't know what I am talking about! And to be so conceited about it too! /snark
  Really, it makes perfect sense as written. The bolt and the threaded hole it is inserted/rusted into will have different resonant frequencies. The interface (rust) between the bolt and the hole has a lower deformation capacity, and is much more brittle than either of the other bodies.
  The screwdriver produces what is essentially a standing wave that "crawls" in a circle inside the waveguide cup, which is placed over the top of the bolt head. In addition to interaction with this standing wave, it will also be subjected to the interfereing part of the wave. This will cause the shaft to resonate. We want the phonons induced inside the bolt and in the hole to have a reliable medium over which to interact. The penetrating oil will work nicely.
  The cavitations created in this interface will shatter the rust, by inducing pressure beyond the rust's structural tolerances.
  The bolt won't turn very fast, if at all (very rusted, with lots of resistance), but it would break up the rust quite nicely, in exactly the same way a tissue homogenizer blends up tissue samples.
10. Re:Still by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 17:18 · Score: 1
  
  But a manual tool isn't as cool, and won't rattle a doorknob apart! :D
11. Re:Still by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 17:44 · Score: 1
  
  The device I have in mind has 3 or more transducers, offset a fraction of a wavelength. (Not a whole wavelength fraction.) The transducers need to be slightly angled, so that the standing waves are not formed at the exact center of the cavity, but instead slightly offcenter.
  For breaking rust, I actually envisioned a digitally tuned frequency, that adjusts the tone to that of the bolt by looking for polyphonic abberations. (Use a peizo crystal to measure the feedback.) The idea is to increase the amount of polyphonic waveforms generated by the bolt, such that it essentially "hoolahoops" on a very tiny scale.
  We want energy to be conducted away from the bolt, and into the rust+oil medium, so that cavitation occurs in that medium. We want the bolt hole to serve as a sink for the energy kicked up in the bolt, to avoid damaging the bolt. The hole will have a different resonant frequency than the bolt, so the tuned source signal will only cause heating in the material the hole is drilled in.
  Due to the tiny distances involved between the bolt and the hole, we want to use a very high frequency signal, so the bolt will be at an Nth order harmonic, and not a first order one. The potential to cause microfractures across metal grain boundries inside the bolt is a noteworthy concern, and is why we want to dampen the resonation.
12. Re:Still by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 18:28 · Score: 1
  
  It doesn't need to actually make really large bubbles. It just needs to cavitate the heavier rust particles suspended in the oil, creating little pockets of pure oil that move around the threads of the bolt. We don't need to volatize the oil.
  Think more "ultrasonic cleaner", and less "ultrasonic heater."
  We just want small cavities of the more motile oil to form behind flakes of rust between the bolt and the bolt hole. Not actual evacuated bubbles.
13. Re:Still by Darinbob · 2012-12-04 20:00 · Score: 1
  
  It's really a sonic probe.
14. Re:Still by Plazmid · 2012-12-05 02:13 · Score: 1
  
  Don't you mean an acoustic spanner, like this:
  http://iopscience.iop.org/1367-2630/10/1/013018
  It's been know for quite a while than one can generate a torque with soundwaves.
Wrench != spanner by TapeCutter · 2012-12-04 14:33 · Score: 1, Informative

"Wrench" is the British term for an adjustable spanner.

--
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
1. Re:Wrench != spanner by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 14:35 · Score: 1
  
  Hmm.. so, a "monkey wrench", in british parlance, would be an enormous adjustable spanner?
  Would a really large pipe wrench qualify?
2. Re:Wrench != spanner by bLanark · 2012-12-04 20:33 · Score: 1
  
  "Wrench" is the British term for an adjustable spanner.
  I disagree. An adjustable spanner is called an "adjustable spanner" where I come from. I only ever heard the term "wrench" on tv/movies.
  I also think that the article summary should say ...
  
  (the correct term for a wrench)
  
  . :-)
  
  --
  Note to ACs: I won't mod you up, even if you are being funny or insightful. So take a chance! It's not real life!
3. Re:Wrench != spanner by TapeCutter · 2012-12-04 20:36 · Score: 1
  
  A monkey wrench is a monkey wrench but it's commonly called a "pair of Stilsons", Stilson is the name of a company that makes monkey wrenches. A pipe wrench is a pipe wrench. A plain old adjustable spanner is called a wrench, or more commonly a "shifter" which is shorthand for shifting spanner. Strangely a socket spanner is more commonly called a socket wrench. The same terminology is used in Australia because most of our past mechanics and engineers came from the UK.
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
4. Re:Wrench != spanner by wonkey_monkey · 2012-12-04 21:03 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, but spanner is the British term for what the Americans call a wrench, which is what the article is pointing out.
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
5. Re:Wrench != spanner by Gonoff · 2012-12-05 01:25 · Score: 1
  
  Wrench is the term that is used in North America for what much (most?) of the world calls a spanner.
  Don't blame the British. Blame Webster for most of the differences between what you speak and "International" English.
  
  --
  I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
Well... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-04 14:42 · Score: 1

...that's interesting, but TFS is talking about an American "wrench" being the same as a British "spanner" not the other way around.
1. Re:Well... by TapeCutter · 2012-12-04 21:00 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks, I realise it's the other way around, but I thought it was interesting too, so I posted it. ;)
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Physical Device by mfwitten · 2012-12-04 14:42 · Score: 1

Rather than an actual physical device
So, it's not a physical device? What is a 'physical' device? What is a 'non-physical' device? In fact, what is a 'device'? Sloppy language betrays sloppy thinking.
You'll give me examples, but you'll probably be wrong.
1. Re:Physical Device by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 15:05 · Score: 2
  
  Given the "fuzzy" nature of massive particles at the quantum scale, and their "actually" being little more than a probabalistic distribution of an energy potential, I agree.
  The best explanation I could give for a "physical" device is one that makes use of electrical charge repulsion forces to interact with another massive particle. (Eg, what keeps your hand from going right through the door when you knock on it.)
  Photons are not massive particles, and imbue kinetic forces through a completely different mechanism.
Ok, serious question here: by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 14:42 · Score: 2

How large/complex of a particle can they manipulate using this technology, and how fast can they move particles without risking them falling out of the "tweesers"?
I imagine the applications as a synthesis system for synthentic long chain DNA, or synthetically generated amino acid chains, to better test protein folding under laboratory conditions.
Synthetic DNA chain synthesis especially is a very intriguing potential application here. The tweeser needs to be able to hold up a fair amount of mass though to be useful for that though.
1. Re:Ok, serious question here: by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 17:27 · Score: 1
  
  I was referring to the optical tweezers cited by the summary. Those would have wavelengths in the nanometer range, which should allow you to move largish molecules around.
  The question was if you would need some other form of support to hold the substrate you were building up with the tweezed building blocks, or if you could use another tweezer to hold the chain.
  Remember, individual atoms can be trapped in a bessel beam laser.
  DNA nucleotide sequences are considerably larger.
Re:memory low can i install qemm? by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 14:50 · Score: 1

I'm afraid you are about 25 years too late to that party, unless you are running a vintage DOS machine.
If however, you indeed are running a vintage dos machine for old retro dos games (because dosbox doesn't feel right), then there are much better FOSS memory managers from the freedos project you can use instead of that incompatability inducing horror QEMM. :)
Just sayin.
radiometer by johnrpenner · 2012-12-04 15:09 · Score: 2

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Radiometer_9965_Nevit.gif
It's an Optic Screwdriver! by Mark+Shewmaker · 2012-12-04 15:12 · Score: 1

The Doctor needs an Optic Screwdriver now. (Or is this optical functionality already integrated into his current tool, accessible by a different setting, like a Harmony remote that automatically switches the right units on and off and set to the correct configuration?)
1. Re:It's an Optic Screwdriver! by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 15:19 · Score: 1
  
  No silly. The Master uses a "laser screwdriver".
  2 guesses who's working for these guys. ;)
  (Lol!)
Re:conservation of momentum by wierd_w · 2012-12-04 15:16 · Score: 1

Radiation pressure.
Essentially, when the electron of the absorbing substance absorbs a photon, its speed and energy increase, slightly altering the rest energy of the atom in question. When the photon is re-emitted, the state drops back down. When that happens, there is a change in kinetic movement of the atom.
All atoms are constantly moving in random patterns. Sustained exposure to a radiation source provides a sustained and consistent influence on that motion, wich results in a small, but cumulative change in the group's vector of motion.
See for instance, a radiometer. Differences in absorption/emission of photons creates a pressure differential from the re-emission. The black sides of the square tags of the radiometer's armature emit lower energy photons than they absorb. Where does the energy go? Heat! Aka, random atomic motion.
Huh? by BigBunion · 2012-12-04 15:49 · Score: 1

Am I the only one that thought this article was about a new wrench for repairing fiber optic cables?
Can you use it to repair the Millenium Falcon? by phrackthat · 2012-12-04 16:04 · Score: 1

or is the Hyrdrospanner next?
Deep space travel wastes it all by Herve5 · 2012-12-04 22:57 · Score: 1

We never should allow people talk outside their area of competence. This guy Mohanty indeed seems wise and an inventor at microcell manipulations, but from there to say it will "rotate the mirror motors in Sun reflectors for deep space travel"...
First, in "deep space" you don't have Sun, sir. We already hadn't when going to Saturn, for instance. So you'd better call it *close* interplanetary travel, rather.
Second, using solar pressure to actuate, and even rotate things, has already been demoed in all science fairs for 50 years, and as concerns space applications, well there may be 250 patents pendings on this. I think I even applied for one myself, years ago, with a specific mirror dispatcher.
So, well, I think we have to presume the end sentence was just added to flash in the /. summary. At the cost of seriousness.

--
Herve S.
At Last! by kerrbear · 2012-12-04 23:31 · Score: 1

Now I can finally put the screws back in on my laptop!
Next up... by argStyopa · 2012-12-05 00:26 · Score: 1

A spanner that uses light?
Hm, now if only they can develop a screwdriver using sound. THAT might be useful.

--
-Styopa
New name by BaronAaron · 2012-12-05 02:04 · Score: 1

Fiber optic spanner is kind of a long name.
I suggest hyperspanner.