New theory to become invisible

A material that can change the path of light and other types of radiation around objects. Researchers say this will be a new solution to making things invisible.

Two independent research groups have proposed the use of "meta material" to cover an object and hide it in visible light, infrared light, microwave, and even probes. Underwater navigation system. Their work shows that what was previously seen as fiction can now become reality.

The idea starts with refraction - where electromagnetic waves travel the fastest, but not necessarily the shortest path. It is this phenomenon that causes a pencil to dip into a glass of water that looks like it breaks at the separation of water and air.

" Imagine an environment that can direct light around a depression in it, " says physicist Ulf Leonhardt of St. Louis University. Andrew, England, said.

Illustrate the phenomenon of refraction.

Light rays will run behind the object as if they were traveling in a straight line.

" Any object placed in this depression will become invisible to light. Here, the environment creates a special optical illusion: it is invisible, " Leonhardt wrote.

"It makes sense to make such a device." The method described here can also be used to evade detection of sound detectors or other types of electromagnetic waves, "the author said.

This theory is different from the techniques used in modern sneaky devices - they reflect the radar that makes the detector impossible to detect.

Instead, an item that wants to be "stealthed" will be placed in a metamaterial shell that will create an illusion, like illusion, David Schurig of Duke University, North Carolina, USA. , a member of the second research group, said.

Metamaterials are composite structures that are not identical to anything in nature. They are designed to have unusual characteristics, such as the ability to bend light in unique ways.

The team at Duke has embarked on the fabrication of this material.

T. An