Scientists at Michigan Tech University are serious about building a working invisibility cloak! Associate Prof of Electrical/Computer Eng is Elena Semouchkina, who has found a method to use magnetic resonance to capture rays of light & route them around objects, thus rendering them invisible. Semouchkina recently reported her findings in the J Appl Phys Letters. Co-authors include D Werner & C Pantano, both of Penn State, & George Semouchkin. The researchers describe the development of a nonmetallic cloak that uses identical glass resonators made of chalcogenide glass. In computer simulations, the cloak made objects hit by infrared waves (around 1 micron long), disappear from view. Earlier attempts by other researchers used metal rings & wires. "Ours is the first to do the cloaking of cylindrical objects with glass," Semouchkina said. Her invisibility cloak uses metamaterials, which are artificial materials with properties that do not exist in nature; these metamaterials are made of tiny glass resonators arranged in a concentric pattern in teh shape of a cylinder. For more information, please visit www.mtu.edu
