July 11
ROME - The science fictional invisible man is a step closer to reality now that U.S. and European scientists have created a way to bend light around objects.
The researchers' breakthrough in invisibility research is the creation of acoustic plasmon. Mario Rocca of Genoa University in Italy said the plasmon, a supercharged variation of electrons, could be used to make new materials that light can be bent around.
U.S. scientists have managed to do this with tiny objects using extremely small light wavelengths, not in the range of visible light.
"In principle it should be possible for visible light too, and we should be able to hide fairly big objects," Rocca said. "We can see the prospect of the plasmon being used to refract light right around an object, making it perfectly invisible."
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Full Version: Invisibility research breakthrough
These articles keep popping up every so often, all of them are misleading. In principle it's possible this technology may work, but in reality there are a number of problems with it.
So far they've only been able to get this to work at specific frequencies in the microwave range of the spectrum. The technology works by using metamaterials which redirect light around the object you're trying to cloak, so it appears as though the light passed undisturbed. The problem is, the metamaterials need to be smaller than the wavelength of the radiation you're trying to interact with. It's fine for microwave radiation which has a wavelength of a few centimetres, but visible light is a lot smaller. You could scale down the metamaterials so that they interact with visible light, but the properties of metamaterials change with scale almost unpredictably, so by the time they're small enough they're not going to behave properly, and will send light in the wrong direction.
Not to mention, it only works in two dimensions.
So far they've only been able to get this to work at specific frequencies in the microwave range of the spectrum. The technology works by using metamaterials which redirect light around the object you're trying to cloak, so it appears as though the light passed undisturbed. The problem is, the metamaterials need to be smaller than the wavelength of the radiation you're trying to interact with. It's fine for microwave radiation which has a wavelength of a few centimetres, but visible light is a lot smaller. You could scale down the metamaterials so that they interact with visible light, but the properties of metamaterials change with scale almost unpredictably, so by the time they're small enough they're not going to behave properly, and will send light in the wrong direction.
Not to mention, it only works in two dimensions.
QUOTE(owlscrying @ Jul 12 2007, 03:55 PM) 
July 11
ROME - The science fictional invisible man is a step closer to reality now that U.S. and European scientists have created a way to bend light around objects.
The researchers' breakthrough in invisibility research is the creation of acoustic plasmon. Mario Rocca of Genoa University in Italy said the plasmon, a supercharged variation of electrons, could be used to make new materials that light can be bent around.
U.S. scientists have managed to do this with tiny objects using extremely small light wavelengths, not in the range of visible light.
"In principle it should be possible for visible light too, and we should be able to hide fairly big objects," Rocca said. "We can see the prospect of the plasmon being used to refract light right around an object, making it perfectly invisible."
go
ROME - The science fictional invisible man is a step closer to reality now that U.S. and European scientists have created a way to bend light around objects.
The researchers' breakthrough in invisibility research is the creation of acoustic plasmon. Mario Rocca of Genoa University in Italy said the plasmon, a supercharged variation of electrons, could be used to make new materials that light can be bent around.
U.S. scientists have managed to do this with tiny objects using extremely small light wavelengths, not in the range of visible light.
"In principle it should be possible for visible light too, and we should be able to hide fairly big objects," Rocca said. "We can see the prospect of the plasmon being used to refract light right around an object, making it perfectly invisible."
go
One can see that it is summer and some journalists have problems filling their pages ... this story has a beard five miles long and no teeth left.
I also read another problem about this technology. A person that is trying to be invisible, likewise, cannot see outside of him.
yes . we can all accept the fact that with our technology today problems are just gonna pop-up . but of course we are bound to be intelligent and keep increasing our intelligent minds in the coming years and decades.
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