Posted on 10/19/2006 6:41:11 PM PDT by Reaganesque
Durham, NC -- A team led by scientists at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering has demonstrated the first working "invisibility cloak." The cloak deflects microwave beams so they flow around a "hidden" object inside with little distortion, making it appear almost as if nothing were there at all.
Cloaks that render objects essentially invisible to microwaves could have a variety of wireless communications or radar applications, according to the researchers.
The team reported its findings on Thursday, Oct. 19, in Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science. The research was funded by the Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.
The researchers manufactured the cloak using "metamaterials" precisely arranged in a series of concentric circles that confer specific electromagnetic properties. Metamaterials are artificial composites that can be made to interact with electromagnetic waves in ways that natural materials cannot reproduce.
The cloak represents "one of the most elaborate metamaterial structures yet designed and produced," the scientists said. It also represents the most comprehensive approach to invisibility yet realized, with the potential to hide objects of any size or material property, they added.
Click here for the rest of the article and the video links.
(Excerpt) Read more at dukenews.duke.edu ...
The device can only be destroyed in the fires of Mt. Doom.
bumb
Now if they could only make Nifong disappear...
Sounds perfect for creeping around Hogwart
It could be incredibly useful in space exploration too. If I understand this correctly, it could be used to shield spacecraft, space stations and lunar colonies from radiation. It could also be used to shield ships, airplanes, missiles and sattelites from directed energy weapons. At least theoretically.
[Photograph of device]
Very good points.
HEY!! THAT'S MY POLAR BEAR IN A SNOWSTORM PIC!! WHAT THE...??
Big deal. We had the Cone of Silence available years ago.
I had one of those once and lost the damn thing ...
Soon as they can make one that wraps around an F-350, I'm in.
Is that a Dungeons and Dragons reference?
LOL
Uh, I'm thinking DARPA is probably a leading contributor to the research; wouldn't you?
Why can't I read your article...invisible ink?
The first should be Donald Rumsfeld's press briefings. He boggles their minds as it is. Just imagine how the Q & A would go if he were invisible.
Interesting...with future advances in nanotechnology, we may be able to design a similar cloaking material for optical wavelengths.
I can see quite a few military uses for the microwave cloak, like radar invisibility for ships and planes.
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