Comprehensive coverage

The microwave invisibility cloak

A Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak is still not possible, but scientists have succeeded for the first time in building a device that raises itself with microwaves. 

The disappearance facility
 
When we "see" a certain object, our eyes actually perceive the various light waves reflected from the object. The eye and brain process this information to reconstruct the original shape of the bone.

 So what do scientists need to do to build the invisibility cloak? The first thing is to prevent the reflection of the light waves from the object, then we will not see it. But this is not enough, the scientists must also eliminate the shadow of the object, since the lack of light waves from a certain direction (shadow) will betray its existence. That is, the light waves must bypass the object and continue on the other side so that the viewer can see what the object is hiding - not easy!

 As mentioned, it is still not possible to achieve invisibility with visible light waves, but recently they managed to do it with microwaves. Like visible light, microwaves are also a form of radiant energy. They are part of the electromagnetic spectrum which also includes radio waves, infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. The wavelength of microwaves is longer than radio waves but shorter than that of visible light.

 The new "disappearance" device resembles a ring the size of a drinking glass bottom [see photo]. The ring is made of a material with unique properties: when microwaves hit the ring, only a few of them are reflected from it, instead they penetrate it or bypass it and return to their path on the other side.

 If microwaves are projected onto the ring from one side, and a detector is placed on the other side, the detector does not detect that the waves have changed their path. If we were the detector, and we were able to see through microwaves, we would not see the object. In this wave field the ring is practically invisible. Moreover, when the researchers placed a small copper loop inside the ring, it too was almost invisible.

 But the device is not perfect, it casts a light shadow, and of course lacks any ability in the field of visible light. And in short, we muggles still have to wait before we can imitate Harry Potter.

 for further reading

 A broader overview:

 to the Hamada site

4 תגובות

  1. Sorry, the human race are the ones who developed the atomic bomb, the laser, quantum theory, guns, deciphered the secrets of the mind, helicopter gunships, tanks, submarines, powerful telescopes, spaceships that will reach Mars, spaceships that have left the solar system, brought samples from other planets, we are the race The strongest or the weakest because there are problems but we need to be on alert because the technology of finding twillies is close to our reach!

  2. Nice but as Eyal said - it's not the most useful and it's hard to think of a good way to utilize this technology. For example, consider a situation where a soldier is walking in one area or another - today the soldiers are trained so that no matter how hard you try - you will not see them. As well as vehicles, I have a friend in the armor, the commander of Merkava 4, he managed to get within 10 meters of a competing tank without the tank even seeing him. It's all a matter of training and strategy. Our head is much more sophisticated than an invisibility cloak

  3. There is already a device that works in a similar way to the one in visible light
    That one is called a window - or just glass

  4. Error in the last sentence in the third paragraph - "The wavelength of microwaves is longer (shorter) than radio waves but shorter (longer) than that of visible light.
    Other than that, the thing is nice. I was always interested in the theme (inspired by "Interstellar Voyage") but later I found it to be a bit childish, despite the benefits it might bring (and I must say it's hard to see obvious benefits).

Leave a Reply

Email will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismat to prevent spam messages. Click here to learn how your response data is processed.