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A new mantle of invisibility “disappears” objects

A new very thin layer of invisibility “disappears” 3D objects from the microwave.

A new and more advanced mantle of invisibility in the field of microwaves has been presented by American researchers, making another step forward in a cutting-edge scientific and technological field, which has undergone significant developments in recent years. Modern Harry Potter-style wizards are now increasingly erasing various objects in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, in visible light and beyond.

The researchers, led by Professor Andrea Alou of the University of Texas, who published the study in the New Journal of Physics, used a very thin layer of material, called a “metal meta-screen,” to create a mantle. thickness of a few micrometers (millionths of a meter). The mantle can completely hide in the natural environment three-dimensional objects from the microwave, in all directions and from all possible angles of observers.

Usually the invisible mantles so far have the disadvantage of being relatively bulky, but the new creation is too thin. The “meta-screen” is created by attaching strips of copper sheet just 66 microns thick, on a flexible polycarbonate film 100 microns thick.

With this material as a mantle, the researchers coated and “disappeared” a cylindrical rod 18 cm long from the microwave. The mantle was most effective when the incident microwaves had a frequency of 3.6 Ghz. Scientists believe that their cloak is easy to use and can hide a variety of objects with strange and asymmetrical shapes.

Objects are detected either by our eyes at the visible / optical wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum, or by other devices at non-optical / visible wavelengths, when the waves (light, X-rays, microwaves, infrared, sounds, etc.) reflected from the surface of objects. The basic technique of invisible mantles so far is the use of special “metamaterials” that deflect, curve or absorb light or other wave around the object, so that it is no longer reflected from the surface. In this way, the object is as if it does not exist for an observer or a detection device.

Last year, the same research team was the first to successfully eradicate a three-dimensional object using a new type – but more voluminous – “plasmon mantle”.

The next step, as Alou announced, will be, after the appropriate modifications, to use the new metal “meta-screen” to eliminate objects no longer from the microwave, but from the visible light, that is, from the human eyes. He even expressed the hope that the “post-screens” will prove to be easier and able to hide three-dimensional objects from visible light compared to other larger mantles.

Source: The Daily