Post by douger on Nov 19, 2013 18:10:41 GMT -5
Dueling cloaking devices.
But Alú says he has invented a new type of device that fixes that problem. Like the cloaks of yore, Alú's new design uses meta-materials (synthetic textiles with properties not found in nature) that can bend light around an object and make it look like it's not there. But, by adding an electronic source like a batter to the cloak (making the cloak "active" as opposed to "passive"), Alú says he can make objects transparent at "all angles and over all broad bandwidths."
Naturally, a lot of the funding for this research comes from the Defense Department: Want an airplane or a tank to be invisible to radar? This is the type of device for you. But it's not just the military that is interested. Alú says a good chunk of funding comes from wireless providers. Because if a building is in the way of your wireless signal, making it invisible might be a better alternative than knocking it down.
Alú says he expects to have a version of this device built within the next couple of years.
Why the hurry? Maybe it's so we can get one before Canada does. Researchers at the University of Toronto seem to be neck and neck with the U.S.
In a recent paper published in the Physical Review X, Toronto professor George Eleftheriades and his student Michael Selvanayagam describe a device made up of a series of antennae that can radiate light and radio waves away from the object it surrounds. But these researchers have done more than just write about such a device; they've jury-rigged one up using Styrofoam, masking tape, and 12 antennae. It cost under $2,000 and has been nicknamed "the active cloak machine."
Naturally, a lot of the funding for this research comes from the Defense Department: Want an airplane or a tank to be invisible to radar? This is the type of device for you. But it's not just the military that is interested. Alú says a good chunk of funding comes from wireless providers. Because if a building is in the way of your wireless signal, making it invisible might be a better alternative than knocking it down.
Alú says he expects to have a version of this device built within the next couple of years.
Why the hurry? Maybe it's so we can get one before Canada does. Researchers at the University of Toronto seem to be neck and neck with the U.S.
In a recent paper published in the Physical Review X, Toronto professor George Eleftheriades and his student Michael Selvanayagam describe a device made up of a series of antennae that can radiate light and radio waves away from the object it surrounds. But these researchers have done more than just write about such a device; they've jury-rigged one up using Styrofoam, masking tape, and 12 antennae. It cost under $2,000 and has been nicknamed "the active cloak machine."
