Friday, March 6, 2009

New Cloaking Device


Ever since the release of H.G.Well’s hit 1896 novel, The Invisible Man, the concept of developing a real life invisibility cloak has slowly grown from a crazy sci-fi concept, into a reality. But finding a material able to bend light in a manner that makes the object behind the cloak disappear, has been no easy feat.

Scientist realized they must engineer their own ‘meta-materials’, artificially structured materials that have properties not found in natural materials, and thus several advancements have been made in the recent years. 

Now, engineers from Duke University have almost perfected a device that can “cloak” items placed on a mirror surface. 

The first design of this device came in 2006, however the specifications of the materials distorted the light that bounced off. 

To create the new device, researchers developed a new set of mathematical algorithms which were used to engineer a new metamaterial able bend electromagnetic light waves around an object so it appears invisible. 


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