January 4, 2013
Daniel Knighton, journalist for BreakThru Radio (BTR) discussed the scientific accomplishments of 2012 and featured Duke University's research on the Invisibility cloak. Breakthruradio.com has been providing the world with the best in music related content since 2005. Included below is an excerpt from the full article:
Saran Wrap of Invisibility
"Researchers at Duke University have crafted the impossible: a prototype for the real world's very own "invisibility cloak." The current design, however, is only able to shield objects from microwaves, which have longer wavelengths than visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum. To be shielded from light also means shielding from heat: a TV dinner dressed in a properly designed cloak could feasibly remain unaffected by a microwave oven. The team tells BTR via email, 'If we knew the specific frequency that the microwave used, we could design a cloak to operate at that frequency. The only concern would be the power output of the microwave. If the power is too high, the tiny circuit elements that comprise the cloak could be fried.'
It is also possible for light to pass through undistorted. The researchers say that even information can pass through uncorrupted. 'If we assume that the information in encoded in a narrowband frequency signal than it could be sent without corruption through the cloak. Alternatively, that information could be encoded spatially, as in an image,' they say.
As for the size, the current model is only a square foot, just for practical lab reasons. 'There's no reason why we couldn't make it large enough for a person to fit inside. Of course, the person wouldn't be able to move or see out of the cloak!' The greatest of wizards could probably live with that."
