Derrick
10-12-2010, 04:05 PM
American scientists claim they are a step closer to developing a material that can make objects disappear.
According to the researchers, from the University of Berkley in California, they have developed a material that can bend around 3D objects.
How it works
“The materials do not occur naturally but have been created on a nano scale, measured in billionths of a metre. The team says the principles could one day be scaled up to make invisibility cloaks large enough to hide people,” reported the BBC.
“The new system works like water flowing around a rock, the researchers said.
Because light is not absorbed or reflected by the object, a person only sees the light from behind it – rendering the object invisible. The new material produces has “negative refractive” properties. It has a multi-layered “fishnet” structure which is transparent over a wide range of light wavelengths,” said the BBC article.
Future applications
The most obvious use would be for the military, why else would the US plug research money into an invisibility cloak?
Hiding tanks for stealth operations was just one suggested use. Personally I prefer the idea of James Bond’s car disappearing with some sort of cloaking device but I guess a tank is the stuff you fight real wars with so it’s better to hide them from the enemy.
Whilst we are one step closer it seems that invisibility cloaks are still a thing for young wizards, like Harry Potter. But one cannot deny that the idea of being able to disappear for a while is very tempting.
According to the researchers, from the University of Berkley in California, they have developed a material that can bend around 3D objects.
How it works
“The materials do not occur naturally but have been created on a nano scale, measured in billionths of a metre. The team says the principles could one day be scaled up to make invisibility cloaks large enough to hide people,” reported the BBC.
“The new system works like water flowing around a rock, the researchers said.
Because light is not absorbed or reflected by the object, a person only sees the light from behind it – rendering the object invisible. The new material produces has “negative refractive” properties. It has a multi-layered “fishnet” structure which is transparent over a wide range of light wavelengths,” said the BBC article.
Future applications
The most obvious use would be for the military, why else would the US plug research money into an invisibility cloak?
Hiding tanks for stealth operations was just one suggested use. Personally I prefer the idea of James Bond’s car disappearing with some sort of cloaking device but I guess a tank is the stuff you fight real wars with so it’s better to hide them from the enemy.
Whilst we are one step closer it seems that invisibility cloaks are still a thing for young wizards, like Harry Potter. But one cannot deny that the idea of being able to disappear for a while is very tempting.