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'Invisibility Cloak' Created Using Crystals
Zothecula writes "The quest to build a working 'invisibility cloak' generally focuses on the use of metamaterials – artificially engineered materials with a negative refractive index that have already been used to render microscopic objects invisible in specific wavelengths of light. Now, using naturally occurring crystals rather than metamaterials, two research teams working independently have demonstrated technology that can cloak larger objects in the broad range of wavelengths visible to the human eye. PDFs of the two similarly named research papers are available through arXiv.org."
I've not seen the others
Now to work on "God Mode"
From reading the article I get mostly that it's done all with Mirrors and prisms essentially. Maybe someone else can point out what's so exciting about this?
If the refraction of the light prevents you from being seen, it will prevent you from seeing as well.
Nothing to see here, move along...
"I'll believe it when I see it."
I am officially gone from
Oh come on, it's not that bad; we only get them every other day.
Here's one:
screw the invisibility cloak! Give me Stealth Camouflage!
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Are we any closer to our goal of being able to sneak into women's locker rooms undetected?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
This is so Inspector Gadget...
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
Am I the only one who's thinking that this technology will most quickly adapted for stage magician acts?
Does anyone else think of "Doctor Dinosaur" from Atomic Robo when reading this article?
http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/07/24/free-comic-book-day-2009/
--Rachel
The tend to show up once or twice a month.
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
Around here at this time of year naturally occuring crystals can cause objects to disappear., especially in high winds. In some cases even after the wind has subsided, things can remain hidden by being covered with a layer of these 6 sided crystals. There are 2 solutions, wait until the temperature increases and the crystals melt, or to use a shovel....
Whoosh!
This is the same type of 'invisibility' preformed by magicians: i.e. mirrors.
Did somebody actually get a grant for this work?
If an Invisible Cloak falls in the woods and no one around see it, does it make a sound?
Am I eval()? - http://www.monst3r.com.br
Didn't David Copperfield make an elephant disappear the same way?
Tile the outer wall of the women's changing room with calcite. That will render the wall invisible from the outside so you will be able to look in.
My initial reaction was Bunk! Disclosing the details of a technology so obviously useful to DoD would border on treason. There seems to be room to speculate the PR is disinformation.
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
this isn't an invisibility cloak; it's high school physics.
No, really, once you get over that fact that calcite has been known for its double refraction property for literally hundreds of years, and every child ever to get its hands on a lump of it trying to make it show weird shit, you'll realize that these people have figured out how to make stuff disappear when you look at it from exactly the right angle... Yawn. The calcite remains visible, obviously, BTW.
look for heat distortion in the air. they are not 100% invisible.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
OK. I guess that's one way of defining invisible.
So I can't see the pink material... I can still see the wedge of reflective material covering it. By this definition, I could throw a blanket over it and - 'poof' - it's invisible...
See what?
I have actually seen this working the the University of Birmingham. It's impressive, but it's small.
A video I saw on my local BBC news the other week too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12338447
I, for one, would like to welcome our over lords, but I can't see them. So they must be wearing this invisibility crystals!
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Erm... No, I really don't.
right...
Total and COMPLETE negative refraction is impossible. Masking a selection of wavelengths is not. This is about fooling the human eye, not 'true' stealth tech which indeed violates the second law of thermodynamics.
a real invisibility cloak..and all it took was redefining the terms "invisibility", and "cloak". Hell if I knew it was that easy, I'd have invented one years ago.
I never really understood what is with this invisibility cloak obsession anyway. It's not like research like depicted in the article enables true invisibility... it only filters a comparatively small band, so no (radar+infrared+visible light) invisible planes, tanks etc. Also, no project so far has shown even the hint of the possibility to have angle independant cloaking. So that's no inivisible soldiers either, unless they don' t turn and all enemies are looking at them from one narrow perspective.
My though exactly. The background is a convenient solid green.
I could throw a blanket over it and - 'poof' - it's invisible...
But there are two thousand years of prior art on that technology...
Here, invisible women.
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
'Relatively' invisible may not be good enough. In this book the main character was invisible except for his retinas. H. G. Wells had thought it out, if light didn't interact at all with his eyes he would be blind.
There was a moment when he was discovered because someone noticed those two tiny spots moving around.
"I solemly swear I am up to no good."
Guys, GUYS. I invented a time machine. It's an ingenious device that can be programmed to generate loud, audible signals at a specific point in time. All you have to do is program the device with a time set in the future, and then fall asleep. When you wake up - presumably via aural stimulation from my invention - you will be in the FUTURE!
Suck it, Einstein.
But all those geek Creds lost about how they had a pink object that was invisible.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
no idea why you got downranked, I laughed... just no mod points to unfuck your rank.
Yeah seriously, is it Friday already? People seem to just keep reinventing the invisibility cloak, and then losing their prototype.
By now you'd think we'd be tripping on stacks of the damn things.
Would they be useful for small team reconnaissance missions perhaps a Marine sniper team or something similar?
150 crystals AND 150 gas.
When the policeman of the tie, rule you violate, hello punishment of the kitty?
Yes invisibility crystals... Excellent!