Cornell Scientists Build a Time Cloak?!

That's exactly what I just read in this Gizmodo article!

Yep, it seems that Cornell researchers:

• have designed, built and demonstrated the first "cloak" that hides events in time.

The researchers say that their method works the same way other "cloaks" work in various other electromagnetic spectrum. A "lens" decompresses light, for all intents splitting it. At the other end of the experimental area is a compression lens that returns the field to normal. The net effect is a void between the two lenses where for all intents time has no effect.

Again from the article:

• Right now, the cloak can only last for 120 nanoseconds, and the theoretical max for the current design measures just microseconds.

anyone want to call it before I do?

When Science Fiction Pushes the Boundaries of Science

By contributing writer: Beatrice Owen.

There are times when you read science fiction books or watch movies that are born out of the imagination of their creators and wonder if there could be a smidgen of reality in the fantasy world they spin. I guess sci-fi works as a genre and draws fans and fanatics alike because people are fascinated by the possibility of technology and the magic it can weave. So how great would it be if it were possible to make fact out of fiction? History has taught us that this has happened before, so there’s every reason to believe it could happen again.

Take the Harry Potter series – call it magic or science fiction, whatever the name, you must admit that JK Rowling threw a spell on the entire world with her creative thinking and innovative style of writing. Now it looks as if at least one part of the book could become reality; no, it’s not Hogwarts or even magic flying brooms, it’s Harry’s (in)famous invisibility cloak, the one that was left to him by his dad and passed on to him by Albus Dumbledore. You would think invisibility is outside the realms of modern science, no matter how advanced it is, but research at the Imperial College of London has demonstrated otherwise.

Metamaterials, whose properties vary in both time and space, are a new class of materials which can be artificially engineered to distort light and sound waves. Using the properties of light and deflecting certain parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, researchers have proved that images can be altered or made to look as if they have disappeared. While the actual mechanics of this technique is beyond the grasp of the average layperson, let’s just say that this is exactly the principle that the invisibility cloak works on – the object is there, yet it seems to have disappeared when the cloak is thrown on.

While the modern day invisibility cloak is just theoretical at this stage, there’s no telling what will happen as time passes and technology becomes more advanced, because the idea is definitely not a mirage, and it’s definitely going to be worked on until it becomes a reality. For now however, even though scientists have to first work on metamaterials before they can think of making an invisibility cloak out of one, we can rest assured that as long as science fiction is alive and kicking, it will continue to push the boundaries of science.

By-line:
contributed by Beatrice Owen. Mz Owen writes on the topic of bachelors of science . She welcomes your comments at her email id: owen1.beatrice(@)gmail(.)com.


Cloak of invisibility in Winipedia

Invisibility cloak possible in near future

Boy, this has been all over the place. I want to thank Karen for bringing it first to my attention and Shaun Saunders for the easiest article to understand on the subject.

As we have all been reading, there are multiple efforts under way to develop a simple way to cloak people and machinery from detection. Previous efforts have aimed at only blocking certain wavelengths from being reflected. Other methods have used complicated building methods and expensive absorbent material to soak up and scatter other wavelengths. But an effective "cloak" for visible and near infra-red have proved difficult. Up to this point most efforts have used massive computer systems and cameras to make something appear to be invisible. Now, BBC news reports that :

• Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley have developed a material that can bend light around 3D objects. The materials do not occur naturally but have been created on a nano scale. The light-bending effect relies on reversing refraction, the effect that makes a straw placed in water appear bent.

Reversing refraction has been shown to be possible with microwaves, but this is the first time that the method has been demonstrated on frequencies much closer to the visible spectrum. The effect has been described as neither absorption or refraction, but quite litteraly letting the light "flow" around the desired structure.

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