This progress was made possible by the development of a new set of mathematical algorithms to guide the design and manufacture of exotic composite materials known as metamaterials.
The invisibility cloak, which has inspired many stories and science fiction, may soon become a reality.
After the completion of a prototype in 2006 that mask an object from visible light, a group of engineers at Duke University has produced a new type of device, much more sophisticated, which would, reportedly, to hide a wider range of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation.
latter progress has been made possible by the development of a new set of mathematical algorithms to guide the design and manufacture of exotic composite materials known as metamaterials.
These materials can be engineered to have features not easily found in natural materials that can be exploited to obtain a range of structures that give invisibility. These structures can in fact "lead" the electromagnetic waves around an object, to let them emerge on the other side as if they were passed through a volume of empty space.
The report of the latest results of the Duke is now published on Science magazine signed by Ruopeng Liu, who developed the algorithm, together with Chunlin Li and David R. Smith.
Once the algorithm, the practical realization of the device took only nine days, a very short time, especially when compared with the four months required for the first and most rudimentary prototype.
"The difference between the original device and the latter model is like that between day and night," said Smith. "The new device can cover a broad spectrum of waves - virtually without limits - and go with more easily from infrared to visible light. The approach that we used should allow us to expand and improve our ability to cover different types of waves. "
Intuitively, the principle of the invisibility cloak is similar to the phenomenon of mirage, seen from the front in the distance in one day heat.
"We see water on the street or on the sand, if you're in the desert, but in reality it is a reflection of the sky," said Smith. "In our case the 'mirage' is to see the road behind the 'cloak'. In fact, what we are creating a mirage engineered."
Applications that can be taken now, however, are far from the fantasies of science fiction, once perfected the device could go to improving wireless communications or to be masked by other forms of electromagnetic vibrations.
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