Cloaking Materials
The research: In 2008, several research teams, most working with the United States military, created three-dimensional meta-materials that appear invisible. These materials are full of holes and resemble metal cheesecloth. The holes are so tiny that they can only be viewed with a powerful microscope, and so narrow that light cannot pass through.
Our eyes work by detecting reflected light and interpreting its path to create pictures in our minds with depth, color and shadows. If no light is reflected, our brains have no way of knowing the materials are present. The meta-materials trick our brains by causing light to reflect in the opposite direction, making the material appear to be someplace else or nowhere at all.
Advantages: The meta-materials are the first step to creating cloaking devices. While this may be exciting for science fiction fans, it may also be attractive technology for the military as a type of optical camouflage.
Next Steps: Sadly, meta-materials won’t be commercially available until they can be mass produced. Until then, researchers are investigating ways to use meta-materials to make computers run faster and imaging technologies that allow us to see objects shorter than a light wave.
