Invisibility Cloak?!

Wow! Check this out!

Quote:

A team of British and U.S. scientists has demonstrated the first working "invisibility cloak," although don’t expect it to appear in the Halloween costumes aisle just yet.

The team, led by Professor Sir John Pendry of Imperial College in London, built the prototype at Duke University in North Carolina and reported its findings Thursday in Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science.

Little more than 12 centimetres across, the small device can redirect microwave beams so they flow around a "hidden" object inside with little distortion, making it appear almost as if nothing were there at all.

Like light, microwaves bounce off objects, making them visible and creating a "shadow," although it has to be detected with instruments.

The new work could be a baby step to an improved version that would make the Klingons and Harry Potter jealous by hiding people and objects from visible light.

Like 'water flowing around a smooth rock'

In the experiment, the scientists used microwaves to try to detect a copper cylinder "hidden" by the cloak, which is made from metamaterials — or engineered mixtures of metal and circuit board materials, which could include ceramic, Teflon or fibre composite materials.

"The waves' movement is similar to river water flowing around a smooth rock,” said cloak designer David Schurig, a research associate in Duke's electrical and computer engineering department.

The test came five months after the team published a theory that such a device was possible to design.

"By incorporating complex material properties, our cloak allows a concealed volume, plus the cloak, to appear to have properties similar to free space when viewed externally," said David Smith, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke, in a release Thursday.

"The cloak reduces both an object's reflection and its shadow, either of which would enable its detection."

Remaining CBC Article

What do you guys think of that? Think it will become something bigger, such as being used for military purposes or whatnot? I think this is very interesting. Imagine Star Trek style cloaking becoming true...

Neato!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

This could definately be used for military or secret service style covert missions. Imagine the assassins of tomorrow....completely invisible...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It's one thing creating a cloak that manipulates microwaves, and completely another to create a cloak that can handle visible light. The structures required for that are currently impossible to manufacture as they're so small. Perhaps in a few years they'll work it out. It would be pretty incredible to behold.

How ya doing, buddy?

Imagine an entire army complete with tanks and such all covered up with a giant invisibility cloak... opposition: "Hmm, theres no one here.. oh dear god..."

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

That's definately a cool little advance of science the British have got there. However, even when they develop an invisibility cloak for visible light after this microwaves one, there's still a whole electromagnetic spectrum an enemy army could use.

I was speaking idiomatically.

If this was true and the military knew about this, it probally wouldn't be put on the internet. It would be better to surprise the enemy so they have no idea what the hell is going on.

How ya doing, buddy?

There's no value in microwave-band cloaking, and this is pure research. That's why the military wouldn't ban the publication of this information, although you can bet that they'll be funding the continuation of this work.

Most other types of stealth are limited because of the visual aspect. There are many metrics by which stealth is measured and categorised. One of these is the minimum distance a vehicle can approach the target before being detected. For instance, the now cancelled RAH-66 has a very small frontal profile; it looks smaller than you would expect. The distance is usually measured in miles or given as a ratio compared to another vehicle, but a vehicle that was visually cloaked could get to within a few yards (without considering noise).

FELIPE NO

Proud to be British for once!

:beams with pride:

Im gonna get me one of these once they get to the Harry Potter level. I got some places I wanna walk into without being seen, and I wanna rob a bank without the chance of getting caught! (Robbing banks hurts no one, all that money is insured, so go nuts!)

P.s - I was kidding about the bank thing.................................

Spoiler:

......................or was I?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I saw something like this in a James Bond movie.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by fiercedeity

Proud to be British for once!

:beams with pride:

Im gonna get me one of these once they get to the Harry Potter level. I got some places I wanna walk into without being seen, and I wanna rob a bank without the chance of getting caught! (Robbing banks hurts no one, all that money is insured, so go nuts!)

P.s - I was kidding about the bank thing.................................

Spoiler:

......................or was I?

The last thing anyone would want is for this to be made readily available to the genreal populous. If anyonw could do whatever they wanted, without being seen at all, shit would go down and the world would fail to retain any order becuase no punishment an be administered to something you can't see. Should not ever happen

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well, even if they do manage to mass produce these for military use, I can see a invisibility cloak detector being made.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Quote:

Imagine an entire army complete with tanks and such all covered up with a giant invisibility cloak... opposition: "Hmm, theres no one here.. oh dear god..."

Why stealth armies when you can stealth a nuke?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

There'd be no point in stealthing a single bomb or missile, otherwise they'd do it today. Only the Americans and Israel have been researching the capability of shooting down fast moving projectiles with intercepting missiles and lasers. No other country could even hope to stop such a thing.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Ulysses

There'd be no point in stealthing a single bomb or missile, otherwise they'd do it today. Only the Americans and Israel have been researching the capability of shooting down fast moving projectiles with intercepting missiles and lasers. No other country could even hope to stop such a thing.

Yeah, and the Earth is flat. They'll find a way.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Yep, if it is anything like the United States, they will definitely put at least some thought into doing a stealth bomb. Just in case someone is able to develop a way of stoping U.S. bombs....

Luck always favors the prepared.

Most amazing jew boots

so we got this and US military are working on a active camo that changes colour depending on the environment, what is this, MGS IRL?

How ya doing, buddy?

This device is just gonna make shoplifing from wal-mart easier then it already is...

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yes, since Wal-mart uses microwave radar to detect shoplifters.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Besides, it's unlikely that the kind of people who would be shoplifting from Wal-Mart would have access to this, anyway.

(It's also unlikely that the kind of people who would have access to this would be shoplifting from Wal-Mart.)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Wow.. Invicabilty Cloak?? Its Well U.S And UK Doing Something.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

For once the British are doing something to camouflage themselves in battle... Not like that whole REDCOAT debacle...

bullseye

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Ulysses

There's no value in microwave-band cloaking, and this is pure research. That's why the military wouldn't ban the publication of this information, although you can bet that they'll be funding the continuation of this work.

My guess is that they already have gone beyond that and that's why they're letting this kind of information go through to the Media.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by RAZGRIZ-1

For once the British are doing something to camouflage themselves in battle... Not like that whole REDCOAT debacle...

bullseye

Lol, but they were pretty!

This is pretty interesting, and I agree with the previous poster who stated that the military must be beyond this stage already if they are allowing this to be published. With our seemingly bottomless defense budget, they BETTER be ahead of this.

FELIPE NO

Predator anyone?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

No. Predator sucked ass and you all know it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.