Plasmonic waveguide device for demonstration of negative refraction at visible frequencies. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Since its publication, I have been watching the media and citing trends for validation and direction, and have found an overwhelming preponderance of both.
3D Object Cloaked from All Angles: Excerpted From BigThink
Orion Jones on January 26, 2012, 3:00 PM
What's the Latest Development?
Researchers have 'cloaked' a three-dimensional object for the first time, making it invisible from all angles. Using a shell made of plasmonic materials, an 18cm long cylinder appeared to disappear beneath incoming light from the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The materials "present a 'photo negative' of the object being cloaked, effectively cancelling it out." Previous efforts have focused on a 'carpet cloak', in which the object is overlaid with a 'carpet' of metamaterial that bends light so as to make the object invisible.
What's the Big Idea?
Because plasmonic materials act like a photo negative, a distinct cloak must be prepared for each object. While the technology does not currently operate at the visible spectrum, researchers think it could be use to improve scanning microscopes—the best microscopes science has to offer—"to yield an improved view of even smaller wavelengths of light." A Harry Potter-style cloak still remains a ways off but researchers say the plasmonic technique is their bet for the most applicable cloak.
Photo credit: shutterstock.com
Read it at BBC News
####
Welcome back. Allow me to hypothesize (the coward's word for predict), that this technology will be refined, adapted and applied to special combat uniforms, camera and observation devices (civilian and military), drones and robotics and other uses where it is advantageous to see without being seen. Entire nuclear reactors could be rendered invisible to multiple forms of detection with a combination of these cloaking technologies, too.
On a brighter note, there are rumors and murmurings that variations on this invisibility technology might be used to protect buildings from the ravages of earthquakes. This would be wonderful -- however, a bit of behavioral science combined with economics and the lessons of history would lead me to believe that the applications set forth in the preceding paragraph will receive priority.
Expect more.
Douglas E. Castle for The Global Futurist Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment