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Transparency on demand: A novel process can render artificial materials transparent or even entirely invisible
phys.org ^ | MAY 31, 2022 | Sissy Gudat, University of Rostock

Posted on 06/01/2022 10:27:21 AM PDT by BenLurkin

"When light spreads in an inhomogeneous medium, it undergoes scattering. This effect quickly transforms a compact, directed beam into a diffuse glow, and is familiar to all of us from summer clouds and autumn fog alike," Professor Alexander Szameit of the Institute for Physics at the University of Rostock describes the starting point of his team's considerations. Notably, it is the microscopic density distribution of a material that dictates the specifics of scattering. Szameit continues, "The fundamental idea of induced transparency is to take advantage of a much lesser-known optical property to clear a path for the beam..."

This second property, known in the field of photonics under the arcane title of non-Hermiticity, describes the flow of energy, or, more precisely, the amplification and attenuation of light. Intuitively, the associated effects may seem undesirable—particularly the fading of a light beam due to absorption would seem highly counterproductive to the task of improving signal transmission. Nevertheless, non-Hermitian effects have become a key aspect of modern optics, and an entire field of research strives to harness the sophisticated interplay of losses and amplification for advanced functionalities.

In fact, induced transparency is just one of the fascinating possibilities that arise from these findings. If an object is truly to be made to vanish, the prevention of scattering is not enough. Instead, light waves must emerge behind it completely undisturbed. Yet, even in the vacuum of space, diffraction alone ensures that any signal will inevitably change its shape. "Our research provides the recipe for structuring a material in such way that light beams pass as if neither the material, nor the very region of space it occupies, existed. Not even the fictitious cloaking devices of the Romulans can do that," says co-author Dr. Matthias Heinrich, circling back to the final frontier of Star Trek.

(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: technology
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1 posted on 06/01/2022 10:27:21 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

Made from unobtainium?


2 posted on 06/01/2022 10:28:05 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this? 😕)
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To: SunkenCiv

3 posted on 06/01/2022 10:28:52 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin
And you thought that 'ghost guns' were 'problematic'.
Here come the INVISIBLE GUNS!
4 posted on 06/01/2022 10:35:06 AM PDT by GaltAdonis
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To: rktman

I think it involves unobtainium using luckydaysium as a catalyst = voila! unoseeum!


5 posted on 06/01/2022 10:35:37 AM PDT by Migraine ( )
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To: BenLurkin

Can we use it to make Biden disappear?


6 posted on 06/01/2022 10:41:15 AM PDT by Orosius
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To: Orosius

New clothes finally coming for the Emperor and his retinue


7 posted on 06/01/2022 10:42:43 AM PDT by algore
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To: BenLurkin

Anybody watching “Skin Walker Ranch?


8 posted on 06/01/2022 10:50:58 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: BenLurkin

If a LASER can take the light, direct it in a certain direction, why not create a panel which takes the light and “directs” it in the same direction it came from, out of the other side of the panel. This would obviously require a huge amount of computing capability, taking each photon as it hits the panel and emitting a photon of like size and energy out of the other side.

If the panel is conceived as a sphere, then the sphere would become theoretically invisible, at least as light is perceived.

The sphere could be cooled to the ambient temperature, making it invisible to thermal devices.

I do not think it would be possible to adjust for gravity, it would still bend light waves around it, gravity lensing, which did not actually hit it.


9 posted on 06/01/2022 10:51:08 AM PDT by wbarmy (Trying to do better.)
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Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: BenLurkin

i had a friend who could turn invisible whenever there was work to do-


12 posted on 06/01/2022 12:00:40 PM PDT by Bob434 (.)
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To: Bob434

I know of that guy. Never seen him though.


13 posted on 06/01/2022 12:07:34 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )
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To: teeman8r

lol- he’s pretty good at avoiding detection


14 posted on 06/01/2022 12:10:51 PM PDT by Bob434 (.)
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To: BenLurkin

"Hello computer".

15 posted on 06/01/2022 12:13:08 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Bob434

People like that are so transparent.


16 posted on 06/01/2022 12:13:36 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Rebelbase

Compere: Well, Mr Walters, what’s it like being invisible?

Walters: (slowly and boringly) Well, for a start, at the office where I work I can be sitting at my desk all day and the others totally ignore me. At home, even though we are in the same room, my wife does not speak to me for hours, people pass me by in the street without a glance in my direction, and I can walk into a room without...

Compere: Well, whilst we’ve got interesting people, we met Mr Oliver Cavendish who...

Walters: (droning on) ... Even now you yourself, you do hardly notice me...


17 posted on 06/01/2022 12:16:09 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: ping jockey

I’m pretty sure that I have read about those paints/coatings that are already in use. And a clever idea to have a camera (or three?) on the leeward side to take video of the stuff behind you and play it on the front.

(Won’t work so well while retreating!)


18 posted on 06/01/2022 12:18:30 PM PDT by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
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To: Rebelbase

their intentions are crystal clear, that’s for sure-


19 posted on 06/01/2022 12:29:33 PM PDT by Bob434 (.)
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To: Migraine

If this is available in a fabric, maybe we can design a new line of clothing for the View and it’s followers.


20 posted on 06/01/2022 12:32:54 PM PDT by Waverunner (I'd like to welcome our new overlords, say hello to my little friend)
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