Posted on 10/14/2009 11:23:47 AM PDT by LibWhacker
An electromagnetic "black holeMovie Camera" that sucks in surrounding light has been built for the first time.
The device, which works at microwave frequencies, may soon be extended to trap visible light, leading to an entirely new way of harvesting solar energy to generate electricity.
A theoretical design for a table-top black hole to trap light was proposed in a paper published earlier this year by Evgenii Narimanov and Alexander Kildishev of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Their idea was to mimic the properties of a cosmological black hole, whose intense gravity bends the surrounding space-time, causing any nearby matter or radiation to follow the warped space-time and spiral inwards.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Or you can just paint it black. Same thing. I see black stuff all the time. It’s not invisible. Except in the absence of light, and then everything is invisible.
You don’t do a lot of dating, do you?
Not since I got married.
The wife doesn’t like it when I do.
Somebody better stop this!!
THEY ARE GONNA DESTROY THE PLANET!!!!!
Minorities and the homeless will be most affected....
Mirrors merely reflect light. This device actually captures it.
You can concentrate a helluva lot of light with mirrors. Ask Archemides. There was actually a French solar plant where the U.S. tested components for resistance to nuclear blast effects, “thermal shock”. They rigged the focal point with a fast shutter and than, wham, opened it up for a couple of seconds to see how the unit under test survived the blast.
Another post pointed out the this “draws in light from space”. Basically a graviational lens is just a lens, albeit lossless. Reflective/refractive optics don’t get me excited, even if it’s refraction based on < hushed and awed tones> General Relativity.
I think that the advantage is the physical size. Also you would not have the problems associated with dirty, fragile mirrors which have to be moved periodically for optimum light reflection.
So when do we get free 3-D / 4-D porn on our televisions from this?
The device, which works at microwave frequencies, may soon be extended to trap visible light, leading to an entirely new way of harvesting solar energy to generate electricity.Uh, yah. :')
Nothing is reflected or poorly absorbed. All the light is trapped for 100% use.
And then...?
Can you then keep it in a bottle in the refrigerator?
"steering"or "bouncing" or "continuously reflecting" might be better descriptors...
But then, that wouldn't sound as impressive when begging for the next grant-renewal, grant, or other funding...
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