Artistic representation of a microdrone with two active light-driven nanomotors between red blood cells. (Image: Thorsten Feichtner / Universität Würzburg)
Artistic representation of a microdrone with two active light-driven nanomotors between red blood cells. (Image: Thorsten Feichtner / Universität Würzburg) 04/21/2022 - Propelling micrometre-sized drones using light only and exerting precise control: Physicists at the University of Würzburg have succeeded at this for the first time. Their microdrones are significantly smaller than red blood cells. A hand-held laser pointer produces no noticeable recoil forces when it is "fired" - even though it emits a directed stream of light particles. The reason for this is its very large mass compared to the very small recoil impulses that the light particles cause when leaving the laser pointer. However, it has long been clear that optical recoil forces can indeed have a very large effect on correspondingly small particles. For example, the tails of comets point away from the Sun partly due to light pressure.
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