News & Politics - Scientists create cloak of invisibility

Lexis · 10-19-2006, 01:47 PM

Thought this was kind of cool.

Quote:

Scientists are boldly going where only fiction has gone before — to develop a Cloak of Invisibility. It isn't quite ready to hide a Romulan space ship from Capt. James T. Kirk or to disguise
Harry Potter, but it is a significant start and could show the way to more sophisticated designs.
Click to learn more...

In this first successful experiment, researchers from the United States and England were able to cloak a copper cylinder.

It's like a mirage, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky.

"We have built an artificial mirage that can hide something from would-be observers in any direction," said cloak designer David Schurig, a research associate in Duke University's electrical and computer engineering department.

For their first attempt, the researchers designed a cloak that prevents microwaves from detecting objects. Like light and radar waves, microwaves usually bounce off objects, making them visible to instruments and creating a shadow that can be detected.

Cloaking used special materials to deflect radar or light or other waves around an object, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream. It differs from stealth technology, which does not make an aircraft invisible but reduces the cross-section available to radar, making it hard to track.

The new work points the way for an improved version that could hide people and objects from visible light.

Conceptually, the chance of adapting the concept to visible light is good, Schurig said in a telephone interview. But, he added, "From an engineering point of view it is very challenging."

The cloaking of a cylinder from microwaves comes just five months after Schurig and colleagues published their theory that it should be possible. Their work is reported in a paper in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

"We did this work very quickly ... and that led to a cloak that is not optimal," said co-author David R. Smith, also of Duke. "We know how to make a much better one."

Scientists create cloak of invisibility - Yahoo! News

Lain · 10-19-2006, 02:31 PM

They're stealing an idea from Harry Potter! What the?

Hmm...interesting indeed.

elisheva · 10-19-2006, 05:23 PM

How weird, my response disappeared. Maybe a scientist covered it in an awesome new invisibility cloak!

Lexis · 10-20-2006, 02:51 AM

LOL, elisheva.

Jacob1983 · 10-27-2006, 03:58 PM

I would rather have a cloak that made me super fast. Super speed would be the best super power in my opinion.


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