yesdachi
10-20-2006, 14:32
Just saw this story (http://www.comcast.net/news/science/index.jsp?cat=SCIENCE&fn=/2006/10/19/502518.html&cvqh=itn_invisiblecloak) and thought it fits nicely with the recent teleportation thread. Seems they are a long way from being able to hide my Warbird, but it is progress. ~D
Scientists Create Cloak of Invisibility
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON - Scientists are boldly going where only fiction has gone before _ to develop a Cloak of Invisibility. It isn't quite ready to hide a Romulan space ship from Capt. James T. Kirk or to disguise Harry Potter, but it is a significant start and could show the way to more sophisticated designs.
In this first successful experiment, researchers from the United States and England were able to cloak a copper cylinder.
It's like a mirage, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky.
"We have built an artificial mirage that can hide something from would-be observers in any direction," said cloak designer David Schurig, a research associate in Duke University's electrical and computer engineering department.
For their first attempt, the researchers designed a cloak that prevents microwaves from detecting objects. Like light and radar waves, microwaves usually bounce off objects, making them visible to instruments and creating a shadow that can be detected.
Cloaking used special materials to deflect radar or light or other waves around an object, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream. It differs from stealth technology, which does not make an aircraft invisible but reduces the cross-section available to radar, making it hard to track.
The new work points the way for an improved version that could hide people and objects from visible light.
Scientists Create Cloak of Invisibility
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON - Scientists are boldly going where only fiction has gone before _ to develop a Cloak of Invisibility. It isn't quite ready to hide a Romulan space ship from Capt. James T. Kirk or to disguise Harry Potter, but it is a significant start and could show the way to more sophisticated designs.
In this first successful experiment, researchers from the United States and England were able to cloak a copper cylinder.
It's like a mirage, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky.
"We have built an artificial mirage that can hide something from would-be observers in any direction," said cloak designer David Schurig, a research associate in Duke University's electrical and computer engineering department.
For their first attempt, the researchers designed a cloak that prevents microwaves from detecting objects. Like light and radar waves, microwaves usually bounce off objects, making them visible to instruments and creating a shadow that can be detected.
Cloaking used special materials to deflect radar or light or other waves around an object, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream. It differs from stealth technology, which does not make an aircraft invisible but reduces the cross-section available to radar, making it hard to track.
The new work points the way for an improved version that could hide people and objects from visible light.