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'Antimagnet' Cloak Hides Objects From Magnetic Fields

Posted by Soulskill on from the don't-let-ian-mckellan-get-his-hands-on-this dept.

ananyo writes "Researchers have made a cloak that can hide objects from static magnetic fields, realizing a theoretical prediction they made last year. This 'antimagnet' could have medical applications, but could also be used to subvert airport security. The cloak's interior is lined with turns of tape made from a high-temperature superconductor. Superconductors repel magnetic fields, so any magnetic field enclosed within a superconductor would be undetectable from outside. But the superconductor itself would still perturb an external magnetic field, so the researchers coated its external side with an ordinary ferromagnet. The superconductor tries to repel external field lines, whereas the ferromagnet tries to draw them in — together, the two layers cancel each other out (abstract)."

4 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Airport security? by hpa · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Hey, mind if I take in this superconductor cooler through the checkpoint?"

    1. Re:Airport security? by tylerni7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No look, this is perfect. We convince DHS that the terrorists are trying to develop room temperature superconductors to subvert metal detectors and security checkpoints.

      Then, clearly the solution is for DHS to start giving obscene amounts of money to physicists in the USA to develop the technology first! It's pretty much a win-win-win situation.

    2. Re:Airport security? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Amazing isn't it? Rea searchers make a breakthrough in practical physics, and all anyone can think about is terrorists!

      Be afraid people! There could be one under your bed right now!

  2. Tinfoil hat replacement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Finally, a tinfoil hat replacement. Everyone knows that some aliens use magnets and not EM waves.