This is a little different and I suspect
we have a solution in search of a problem.
It certainly is a nifty tool.
What this is all telling us is
that while a visibility cloak operating
at our scale is actually quite implausible so far, doing it is quite easy at
the way more useful chip level.
Making even a rigid surface
disappear will turn out to be quite a challenge although it we take OFO
evidence seriously, it is apparent that it is possible but even then it is not
perfect. Cloaking failure has in fact
been observed quite often in UFO reports. It is also a feature that is
apparently used sparingly also which implies that it will be an energy drag at
least.
Thousands of invisibility cloaks trap a rainbow
by Staff Writers
Many people anticipating the creation of an invisibility cloak
might be surprised to learn that a group of American researchers has created 25
000 individual cloaks. But before you rush to buy one from your local shop, the
cloaks are just 30 micrometres in diameter and are laid out together on a 25
millimetre gold sheet.
This array of invisibility cloaks is the first of its kind and has been
created by researchers from Towson University and University of Maryland who
present their study today, 25 May, in the Institute of Physics and German
Physical Society's New Journal of Physics.
Although the well-reported intention to make everyday objects disappear
with a Harry Potter-style cloak is beyond this array of cloaks, they could be
used to slow down, or even stop, light, creating what is known as a
"trapped rainbow".
The trapped rainbow could be utilised in tiny biosensors to identify
biological materials based on the amount of light they absorb and then
subsequently emit, which is known as fluorescence spectroscopy. Slowed-down
light has a stronger interaction with molecules than light travelling at normal
speeds, so it enables a more detailed analysis.
Lead author of the study, Dr Vera Smolyaninova, said: "The benefit
of a biochip array is that you have a large number of small sensors, meaning
you can perform many tests at once. For example, you could test for multiple
genetic conditions in a person's DNA in
just one go.
"In our array, light is stopped at the boundary of each of the
cloaks, meaning we observe the trapped rainbow at the edge of each cloak. This
means we could do 'spectroscopy on-a-chip' and examine fluorescence at
thousands of points all in one go."
The 25 000 invisibility cloaks are uniformly laid out on a gold sheet,
with each having a microlens that bends light around itself, effectively hiding
an area in its middle. As the light squeezes through the gaps between each of
the cloaks, the different components of light, or colours, are made to stop at
ever narrower points, creating the rainbow.
To construct the array of invisibility cloaks, a commercially available
microlens array, containing all of the individual microlenses, was coated with
a gold film. This was then placed, gold-side down, onto a glass slide which had
also been coated with gold, creating a double layer. A laserbeam was
directed into the array to test performance of the cloaks at different angles.
The researchers believe that this type of array could also be used to
test the performance of individual invisibility cloaks, especially in instances
where they may be positioned close together. In this study, for example, the
cloaks worked very well when light was shone along the rows; however, when it
was shone at different angles, imperfections were clearly visible.
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