In the scientific race to build fantastical devices such as invisibility cloaks, University of Arizona engineering professor Hao Xin is at the forefront.
His new discovery uses metamaterials – artificial materials engineered to bend electromagnetic, acoustic and other types of waves in ways not possible in nature – to take us one step closer to building microscopes with superlenses that see molecular-level details, therefore bringing us closer to the reality of building shields that could conceal military airplanes and people.
By using a 3-D printer to make metamaterials, Xin is able to configure objects in precise geometrical patterns to bend waves of energy in unnatural ways. Doing this allows researchers to tap into a property call negative refraction, meaning they can bend waves backwards.
In the future, someone wearing a cloak that has been manufactured with these artificially designed refraction properties would appear invisible.
“One of the biggest problems with metamaterials is that they produce energy loss,” Xin said. “The waves decay as they pass through the artificial material. We have designed a metamaterial that retains negative refraction but does not diminish energy.”
This from University of Arizona:
In fact, the synthetic material not only prevented energy loss – it actually caused energy gain, with the microwave intensifying in strength as it passed though the material. Xin achieved this by embedding simple battery-powered tunnel diodes (a type of semiconductor device) and micronanofabrication technologies to the new material.
The new development has both superlense and biomedical applications. It could be applied to optical, acoustic and many other types of radiation.
While these metamaterials show promise, Xin believes it will be years before applications such as invisibility cloaks actually appear on the market. However, Xin predicts that invisibility cloaks will be a reality in his lifetime.
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