http://www.examiner.com/article/real-life-invisibility-cloak-perfected-b y-duke-researchers
Earlier today, Forbes reported that physicists at Duke University have perfected a design for an "invisibility cloak." In 2006, Dr. David Smith began developing the theory of "transformation optics," which centers on redirecting electromagnetic fields around an object in order to render it invisible. The original design was unveiled in the same year and only kept small objects hidden from microwaves. Additionally, the device left small reflections, making the cloaking device itself detectable. In the past, Dr. Smith felt the creation of a perfect cloak unlikely. "I won't call it impossible, but it's implausible what you see in 'Harry Potter.' That's perfect movie invisibility - too perfect." Recently, Dr. Smith worked with graduate student Nathan Landy who modified the design to incorporate metamaterials. "Each quadrant of the cloak tended to have voids, or blind spots, at their intersections and corners with each other," Landy said. "After many calculations, we thought we could correct this situation by shifting each strip so that it met its mirror image at each interface." The first cloak was composed of parallel and intersecting strips of fiberglass etched with copper. The new design adds copper strips to create a more efficient material. The strips of the two-foot square device form a diamond with the center left empty. When any type of wave, such as light, hits the surface of the device, it is either reflected or absorbed. "We built the cloak, and it worked," Landy said. "It split light into two waves which traveled around an object in the center and re-emerged as the single wave with minimal loss due to reflections." Researchers are now using the new metamaterial technique, which could revolutionize how we transmit light and other waves, to cloak objects in 3 dimensions. _______________________________________________ Please be sure to include a URL to the article. Reply to the sender with a "Thank you" if you like this post. _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
