This Christmas, kids will be expecting something bigger and a million times better than the latest new toy or piece of tech, instead they'll be expecting an invisibility cloak! (Okay, maybe not this year, but very soon indeed.) Scientists in the University of California - San Diego are working on making a cloaking device that is "both thin and does not alter the brightness of light around a hidden object." They've basically created an invisibility "carpet" which doesn't change the brightness of light around an object sitting on a flat surface by mimicking the reflection of light off the flat surface, which therefore cancels the overall distortion of light caused by the object's shape - making the observer think that there's a flat surface. Commenting on their research, Dr Hsu explains "By changing the height of each dielectric particle, we were able to control the reflection of light at each point on the cloak." Dr Hsu continues on to say "Our computer simulations show how our cloaking device would behave in reality. We were able to demonstrate that a thin cloak designed with cylinder-shaped dielectric particles can help us significantly reduce the object's shadow." Every day science is advancing almost making sci-fi movies become real-life.
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| The invisible man. |
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The reflection pattern from an uncloaked object on a flat surface (top) compared to the reflection pattern of the same object covered with the cloaking device (bottom), which effectively mimics the reflection from a completely flat surface.
Credit: Li-Yi Hsu/Jacobs School of Engineering/UC San Diego
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Images: [1] [2]
Story and quotes: [1] [2]
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131218130229.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150707093347.htm
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