Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak Is Possible, Studies Say

[Rhiannon]

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- The creation of an invisibility cloak like the one used by Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's books is theoretically possible, scientists said in two studies published by the online Science Express journal.

The key to making an object invisible is to surround it with a cloak made of ``metamaterials'' that are engineered to bend light around an object, continuing on the other side in the same direction as before, Ulf Leonhardt, author of one of the studies, said in a telephone interview. Sound waves, which have a longer wavelength than light, can be distorted in such a way, and light bends naturally in mirages, for instance, he said.

``All one has to do is enhance this bending effect and control it better,'' said Leonhardt, Professor of theoretical physics at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. ``We've given recipes of how to do this. You have to control structures that are smaller than the wavelength of light -- less than half a micrometer,'' he said. A micrometer is a millionth of a meter.

The authors of the papers set out mathematical requirements for a theoretical metamaterial, that could achieve invisibility. Applications include protecting structures from vibrations, sound and seismic waves, improving wireless communications, seeing through obstructions, and hiding objects, David Schurig, a scientist at Duke University, North Carolina, and co-author of the second paper, said in a statement.

``The cloak would act like you've opened up a hole in space,'' another co-author, David Smith, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke, said in the statement. ``All light or other electromagnetic waves are swept around the area, guided by the metamaterial to emerge on the other side as if they had passed through an empty volume of space.''

`Broadband Cloak'

The cloaking device posited by the Duke scientists and the paper's third co-author, Professor John Pendry at Imperial College London, would cover the entire light spectrum and other lines of force, such as magnetic fields, Imperial said in an online statement.

``Ours would be a broadband cloak,'' Pendry said in the statement. ``There would be no communication between the object that is cloaked and the outside world.''

Translating the math into a metamaterial that works isn't easy, Leonhardt said, describing his proposal as more ``modest'' than Pendry's.

``If you relax the requirement of perfection in the invisibility, we can have much more modest requirements of the material,'' he said. ``If you're happy with a slight haze, or even things you can't really perceive with the naked eye, but you can with instruments,'' then it's easier to make, he said.

`Spacewarp'

The two Duke scientists are now working on building the proposed material, and the first device would be a few millimeters across, according to Imperial College. When built, a final theoretical device would have just the same effects as the magical cloak in J.K. Rowling's books, the British school said.

``Just as in the Harry Potter film, nobody would be able to see an object if it was cloaked, as it's in a spacewarp, and that's exactly what our stuff would do,'' Pendry said.

The two papers, ``Controlling Electromagnetic Fields'' by Pendry, Schurig and Smith, and ``Optical Conformal Mapping,'' by Leonhardt, were published yesterday by Science Express, the online advance publication of the journal Science. The Duke/Imperial research was supported by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...4&refer=canada

What would you do if you had one of these?

[SirMoby]

I have one and I was standing right behind you when you wrote this

[Rhiannon]

Originally Posted by SirMoby

I have one and I was standing right behind you when you wrote this

I was wondering why I was feeling taken advantage of.

[TotallyJeanette]

Wow, that's amazing. I can't believe how much movies actually influence science. It seems that everytime something is seen in movies, then they make it in real life.
They even have the laser guns that were seen on Star Trek. (I don't know the name of em, I'm not a Trekky. Lol)
I asked my brother about this and he gave me an interesting answer. He said that the people who build these things are only builders. They can only think of how it would work, but don't have enough of an imagination to come up with the idea.
Opposite of that, we have the movie makers and screen writers, who are purely imaginative...they can't come up with a way to make it work, but have the creativity to spawn the idea in the first place. I thought that was quite interesting, and though it's generic and everyone varies, it still makes a lot of sence to me.

Thanks for sharing Rhiannon!

[Rhiannon]

No problem, thought it was pretty cool and you guys would like it.

[ecchi]

Isn't this supposed to have been attempted in the war using a ship. And isn't the experiment going wrong one of the theories for the Bermuda Triangle?

[WarBot]

I wouldnt want to be the test monkey for this |shocking| If it can bend light it would probably do some funky stuff to you too |skull|

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by WarBot

I wouldnt want to be the test monkey for this |shocking| If it can bend light it would probably do some funky stuff to you too |skull|

Yeah, can't remember all the facts (I read too many conspiracy theories, and create too many too) but the 'original' wartime experiment that I mentioned is supposed to have done all sorts of horrible things to the crew of the ship that they were trying to make invisible.

[WarBot]

they made a movie about it, the philidelphia experiment. the ship and some of the crew fused together and it jumped from one harbor to another one like 300 miles away. not real believable but pretty good sci fi like those shows where the people go back in time. if you actually did go back in time you would have to hope the earth was at the same position it was in the future or you'd be floating out in space with giant eyeballs.

[Cleo]

Yeah like any of you can actually see me… I'm invisible right now.

[MaddCaz]

I'd break into Vida's house

[karomesis]

the next 50 years will make that look boring.

slowing down and curing aging

full immersion virtual reality (aka matrix)

downloading software from the net to combat human illnesess.

"creating" meats and other costly products from nanotech

terraforming mars and moving outward from there

creating true AI that passes the turing test, which will be the only sentient being smarter than us,the next stage in homo sapiens evolution.

past the creation of AI, no one knows what will happen, it will be the direct product of beings smarter than us so if we tried to predict it, it would be like monkeys trying to predict the mars rover.

other than that nothing much will change.

[porndragon]

Originally Posted by karomesis

the next 50 years will make that look boring.

slowing down and curing aging

full immersion virtual reality (aka matrix)

downloading software from the net to combat human illnesess.

"creating" meats and other costly products from nanotech

terraforming mars and moving outward from there

creating true AI that passes the turing test, which will be the only sentient being smarter than us,the next stage in homo sapiens evolution.

past the creation of AI, no one knows what will happen, it will be the direct product of beings smarter than us so if we tried to predict it, it would be like monkeys trying to predict the mars rover.

other than that nothing much will change.

The mars thing should be plausible go to mars plant some trees and dump alot of water something like a greenhouse and vent the oxygen into the atmoshpere each night would take forever but would eventually make the planet livable one would think.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by karomesis

which will be the only sentient being smarter than us

I spent a lot of my life working in retail. And having to deal with the public all day I get the feeling that pavement is smarter than most of the human race.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by karomesis

"creating" meats and other costly products from nanotech

I am really looking forward to McMeat.

[WarBot]

I'd rob banks and spend the rest of my time in the womens shower room at the gym.