did you ever write it up? curious Dana
> Military contractors have actually been working on something like this > for a little while now, but using a simpler model of optical > receptor/repeater using fiber optics for transmission. They think the > effect at its best would be much like what you saw in the movie > Predator. Nothing to show off just yet; so far it's just > proof-of-concept stuff. > > Many years ago I theorized what I called "Microisoluminescence." Back > before WWII the Allies figured out that it was possible to roughly > camouflage aircraft by placing headlights on the leading edges of > wings, so that when they divebombed the enemy, the light values of the > aircraft and the surrounding bright sky were close to one another. > They called this "Isoluminescence," and it was really crude but it > worked pretty well. Sounds about as weird as what we did painting > highly visible black and white angled lines on ships at sea to lessen > their visibility, but that worked, too. > > My idea was to forego the complexities of actual image transmission in > favor of simply varying the face of an object using light values > roughly similar to (and slightly amplified above) the light values on > the opposite face of the object, and to implement them in a rather > fine-grained fashion, say a half-inch grid of transmitters -- hence > the "Micro." > > At first it sounds crazy, like you'd be able to see a thing cloaked > like that coming a mile away, but it turns out that isoluminescence > can fool the eye a lot more than you might think. Oncoming cars on a > gray rainy day are a lot harder to see when they have their lights off. > Simply making an object's light values roughly the same as its > surroundings can go a long way toward making you miss it until it's > right up on you. > Respectfully, > > Adam Phillip Churvis > Certified Advanced ColdFusion MX 7 Developer > BlueDragon Alliance Founding Committee > > > > Get advanced intensive Master-level training in > C# & ASP.NET 2.0 for ColdFusion Developers at > ProductivityEnhancement.com > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Dana Tierney > To: CF-Community > Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2006 8:54 PM > Subject: I want one > > > Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak Is Possible, Studies Say > May 26 (Bloomberg) -- The creation of an invisibility cloak like the > one used by Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's books is theoretically > possible, scientists said in two studies published by the online > Science Express journal. > > The key to making an object invisible is to surround it with a cloak > made of ``metamaterials'' that are engineered to bend light around an > object, continuing on the other side in the same direction as before, > Ulf Leonhardt, author of one of the studies, said in a telephone > interview. Sound waves, which have a longer wavelength than light, can > be distorted in such a way, and light bends naturally in mirages, for > instance, he said. > > ``All one has to do is enhance this bending effect and control it > better,'' said Leonhardt, Professor of theoretical physics at the > University of St. Andrews in Scotland. ``We've given recipes of how to > do this. You have to control structures that are smaller than the > wavelength of light -- less than half a micrometer,'' he said. A > micrometer is a millionth of a meter. > > The authors of the papers set out mathematical requirements for a > theoretical metamaterial, that could achieve invisibility. > Applications include protecting structures from vibrations, sound and > seismic waves, improving wireless communications, seeing through > obstructions, and hiding objects, David Schurig, a scientist at Duke > University, North Carolina, and co-author of the second paper, said in > a statement. > > ``The cloak would act like you've opened up a hole in space,'' another > co-author, David Smith, professor of electrical and computer > engineering at Duke, said in the statement. ``All light or other > electromagnetic waves are swept around the area, guided by the > metamaterial to emerge on the other side as if they had passed through > an empty volume of space.'' > > `Broadband Cloak' > > The cloaking device posited by the Duke scientists and the paper's > third co-author, Professor John Pendry at Imperial College London, > would cover the entire light spectrum and other lines of force, such > as magnetic fields, Imperial said in an online statement. > > ``Ours would be a broadband cloak,'' Pendry said in the statement. > ``There would be no communication between the object that is cloaked > and the outside world.'' > > Translating the math into a metamaterial that works isn't easy, > Leonhardt said, describing his proposal as more ``modest'' than > Pendry's. > > ``If you relax the requirement of perfection in the invisibility, we > can have much more modest requirements of the material,'' he said. > ``If you're happy with a slight haze, or even things you can't really > perceive with the naked eye, but you can with instruments,'' then it's > easier to make, he said. > > `Spacewarp' > > The two Duke scientists are now working on building the proposed > material, and the first device would be a few millimeters across, > according to Imperial College. When built, a final theoretical device > would have just the same effects as the magical cloak in J.K. > Rowling's books, the British school said. > > ``Just as in the Harry Potter film, nobody would be able to see an > object if it was cloaked, as it's in a spacewarp, and that's exactly > what our stuff would do,'' Pendry said. > > The two papers, ``Controlling Electromagnetic Fields'' by Pendry, > Schurig and Smith, and ``Optical Conformal Mapping,'' by Leonhardt, > were published yesterday by Science Express, the online advance > publication of the journal Science. The Duke/Imperial research was > supported by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. > > > > To contact the reporter on this story: > Alex Morales in London at [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Last Updated: May 26, 2006 08:11 EDT > > http://www.bloomberg. > com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=a5w0Bet0kOE4&refer=canada > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:207772 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
