The Levitators

Over The Levitators

We are a research group at the European Space Agency as part of the Spin Your Thesis programme 2021. Our research investigates the phenomenon of Near Field Acoustic Levitation in a Hypergravity environment, simulated with the ESA Large Diameter Centrifuge.

Near-Field Acoustic Levitation (NFAL) is a phenomenon that occurs when a vibrating plate causes an object above or below it to levitate under the pressure field created by the vibrations. This effect has uses in many fields: in low-friction bearings, non-contact micro-assembly, the production of ultrasonic motors and the transport of delicate objects. Therefore, it is essential to understand the behaviour of acoustically-levitated objects under different conditions to be able to develop this technology.

To this end, as three Durham University (United Kingdom) undergraduate Physics students, Paolo Barrios (Philippines), Jochem Langen (Netherlands) & Alexander Prior (United Kingdom), we aim to investigate the exact behaviour of NFAL in hypergravity and therewith further our understanding of this phenomenon.