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"Science and science fiction, how do you even distinguish the two?"
- Jerry Pournelle

Pressure Curtain  
  A force field that creates a barrier that people can pass through but air cannot - an airlock in a spacecraft.  

This seems like an early use of this idea; it predates the use of a similar idea in Star Wars.

The civilians were chattering among themselves - "But there's no air in here!" Staley yelled.

"Not here, sir," Hasner said. He pointed. "Some kind of box thing there, makes like a curtain, Mr. Staley. Air can't get through it but we can."

The Marine Gunner stepped gingerly through the invisible barrier. He had to push. "Like - maybe kind of like the Field, Mr. Staley. Only not so thick."

Technovelgy from The Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle).
Published by Simon & Schuster in 1974
Additional resources -

Here's the bit that names the item:

"...I haven't seen any miniatures with vacuum suits..."

"They can build those magic pressure curtains," Staley reminded him.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Mote in God's Eye
  More Ideas and Technology by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle)
  Tech news articles related to The Mote in God's Eye
  Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle)

Pressure Curtain-related news articles:
  - Plasma Window Technology, Pressure Cushions and Deflector Doors

Articles related to Space Tech
Solar X-Flares Disrupt North American Radio And Navigation
Restructure An Asteroid, Spin It, Get A 'Space Habitat' With Gravity?
Quadruple-Star System Now Forming
Nuclear Rockets To Fly In Space!

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