New Material Developed That Can Make Objects Invisible

In the mission to find a means to render objects invisible, scientists have recently developed a concept for a new type of material that may someday make this possible. For the first time, researchers have been able to demonstrate that a new material can bend visible light the wrong way in three dimensional tests. The research has been based on cloaking technology based on microwave wavelength.

The concept of cloaking objects to make them invisible has been developed for some time now. But it is only recently that tests have been actually done to see if such concepts can be practically applied to the everyday world. And it seems that such a technology may be possible in the near future with the creation of what is called metamaterials.

The metamaterial is able to produce a negative refraction of visible light. This simply means that the material allows visible light to travel on the opposite direction as it normally would under natural circumstances. Metamaterials are engineered artificially and has extraordinary optical properties that do not naturally exist. These materials can alter the release of electromagnetic waves that result in negative refraction. Visible light is just one type of electromagnetic radiation that also includes radio waves as well as X-rays.

Before the principle of cloaking and negative refraction has only been demonstrated through thin, two dimensional materials. But just recently, researchers from the National Science Foundation Lab at the University of California in Berkeley have created a multi-layered fishnet structure that exhibits a negative refractive index. The researchers further state that the material allows them the ability to harness or mold light at will.

Source: news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080810/sc_livescience/newmaterialcouldmakeobjectsinvisible