Cloaking Device Technology Could Improve Communications
Scientists have discovered a new material with light-bending properties. The metamaterial (engineered, not found in nature) is the product of research aimed at developing cloaking technology which was formerly a denizen of the science fiction realm (Romulans, Klingons, etc.), but is now a potential reality of the not too distant future. The research was a joint effort between Duke University and Southeast University of Nanjing, China and funded by, surprise surprise, the U.S. military and defense contractor Raytheon.
Though the ultimate goal of cloaking technology is to render objects invisible to the human eye, it is not surprising that the technology makes objects invisible to devices that "see" other parts of the spectrum. According to researcher David Smith of Duke University, "Humans 'see' using visible light, which has wavelengths just under a micron (a millionth of a meter). But cell phones and other wireless devices 'see' using light that has a wavelength on the order of many centimeters." Certain objects can block these wavelengths just like a wall can block visible light from the human eye. This new metamaterial is capable of making these objects "disappear." In one experiment researchers aimed microwaves through the cloaking material at a bump on a flat mirror surface. Instead of scattering after hitting the bump as one would expect, the microwaves behaved as if they were hitting a flat surface.
The practical applications of this technology are obvious, albeit years from reality. Smith relates a scenario in which "you might have two or more antennas trying to 'see' or receive signals, one being blocked by the other,... You could imagine adding cloaks that would make one antenna invisible to the next, so that they no longer interfered." He added that the idea of a device that could make objects invisible to people is distant but no longer considered impossible - "This latest structure does show clearly there is a potential for cloaking -- in the science fiction sense -- to become science fact at some point."
[via Phonescoop]
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