Invisibility Cloak Spanish Style
By tony leather, 19th Apr 2012 | Follow this author
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The outer layers of the device would be composed of so-called meta-materials, capable of correcting outside magnetic field distortions, rendering any object within invisible
Invisibility Cloak Spanish Style
In yet another strange twist on the subject of theoretical invisibility technology, Spanish scientists have come up with an as yet theoretical device that they claim would mask the presence of metal in a magnetic field from detection.
There can be no doubt that such a device could prove a boon to anybody wanting to pass through metal detectors, at airports for example, with concealed weapons, bombs or indeed any kind of undesirable objects.
Study lead author Alvar sanchez, a physicist at Universidat Autonoma de Barcelona believes that his team can build a magnetic cloaking device, mainly aimed at helping pacemaker patients pass through MRI machines without harm.
The researchers envisage a shell with some kind of metallic layers, in the shape of a cylinder which could surround a magnet and make it disappear, something which the team are attempting to devise a methodology for using available materials.
That the device would allow people to by-pass metal detectors with concealed weapons is not in doubt, because magnetic fields interact with metal, machines detecting this interaction, which could be reduced if the magnetic field were undisturbed.
Before reaching that point, Sanchez needs to find ways to beat the theory behind this proposed device, an anti-magnet several layers in construction. The first needs to be of superconducting material, if it were to stop the magnetic field of an internal object from leaking.
The outer layers of the device would be composed of so-called meta-materials, capable of correcting outside magnetic field distortions, rendering any object within invisible, Sanchez employing computer simulations of a cylindrical device cloaking a small magnet for his calculations, though not everyone thinks it worthwhile.
Caroline Ross, MIT professor of materials science sees major difficulties, because superconducting materials at room temperature have never been achieved, the closet being stability at 200 degrees below zero, which is simply untenable.
Superconducting materials that can be maintained at room temperature have been, for physicists, the Holy Grail since superconductors do not function when powerful magnetic fields, as with MRI devices, are present. It seems to many scientists knowledgeable in this field that this is not a workable idea, but the image presented by these innovative researchers does certainly does tickle the imagination.
The invisibility cloak of Star Trek or Harry Potter fame is definitely not on the card in the foreseeable future, but it is nonetheless good to know that dedicated scientists are trying hard to make it into a reality. You never know what is around the corner, and it could happen sooner than you think.
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