Science becomes invisible
After years of work, David Schurig and David R. Smith at Duke University will finish their research and have absolutely nothing to show for it: They're making a cloak of invisibility.
Really.
So unusual is this undertaking for a serious academic electrical engineering team that Smith has created an elaborate Web site discussing the dream of invisibility as viewed in science fiction--Harry Potter and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft are mentioned--and relating such ideas to scientific fact.
In theory, Smith said, it's possible to make light follow curved lines that skirt an object rather than illuminate it. Light "circulates around the void--like water flowing past a rock in a stream," Smith explained.
This would create a void in space--a place that is invisible.
Natural materials would not do the trick, but Duke researchers are designing artificial substances, called metamaterials, that are engineered to be invisible. They use technology for making circuit boards and computer chips to create metamaterials.
"We're building stuff in the microwave range, using fairly standard lithography," said Schurig.
The metamaterials under construction should render an object invisible to radar, although people could still see it, said Schurig. The Duke team's goal is to have a working example sometime next year. It would demonstrate that invisibility cloaks can work.
The project has evoked interest from military people who like the idea of cloaking spy satellites so they are invisible to radar, among other things. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is financing the research.
Making a cloak to render stuff invisible to the human eye will be more difficult, requiring nanotechnology fabrication and some very clever design work, Schurig said.
"Many people have this fantasy of being invisible," he said. "It's not clear what the commercial benefits might be, but the idea has really sparked a lot of interest."
Full Story:
http://www.infowars.com/articles/science/weapons_duke_sets_sights_on_invisibility_cloak.htm
Really.
So unusual is this undertaking for a serious academic electrical engineering team that Smith has created an elaborate Web site discussing the dream of invisibility as viewed in science fiction--Harry Potter and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft are mentioned--and relating such ideas to scientific fact.
In theory, Smith said, it's possible to make light follow curved lines that skirt an object rather than illuminate it. Light "circulates around the void--like water flowing past a rock in a stream," Smith explained.
This would create a void in space--a place that is invisible.
Natural materials would not do the trick, but Duke researchers are designing artificial substances, called metamaterials, that are engineered to be invisible. They use technology for making circuit boards and computer chips to create metamaterials.
"We're building stuff in the microwave range, using fairly standard lithography," said Schurig.
The metamaterials under construction should render an object invisible to radar, although people could still see it, said Schurig. The Duke team's goal is to have a working example sometime next year. It would demonstrate that invisibility cloaks can work.
The project has evoked interest from military people who like the idea of cloaking spy satellites so they are invisible to radar, among other things. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is financing the research.
Making a cloak to render stuff invisible to the human eye will be more difficult, requiring nanotechnology fabrication and some very clever design work, Schurig said.
"Many people have this fantasy of being invisible," he said. "It's not clear what the commercial benefits might be, but the idea has really sparked a lot of interest."
Full Story:
http://www.infowars.com/articles/science/weapons_duke_sets_sights_on_invisibility_cloak.htm
posted by Dani @ 8:56 PM
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