Chinese scientists 'increasingly confident' about development of real-life 'invisibility cloak'

[cirr]

Mainland Chinese scientists want to remind us all that they are increasingly confident about the prospect of one day owning a real-life 'invisibility cloak', you guys, thanks to the development of technology used to make objects 'disappear'. Researchers working with the team will also soon announce their latest project, a device that stops objects from being located by heat sensors and metal detectors.

Last month, a team of Chinese and Singaporean researches announced the development of an "invisibility cloak" that has so far successfully made a goldfish and a cat disappear with the use of light-bending technology.

SCMP reports:

The technology would have obvious military uses, such as developing stealth aircraft, but Beijing believes the research could lead to wider technological breakthroughs with broader uses, scientists involved in the research said.

The main approaches are developing materials that guide light away from an object; creating electromagnetic fields to bend light away from what you are trying to hide, plus copying nature to make high-tech camouflage materialsProfessor Ma Yungui, an optical engineering scientist who works out of Zhejiang University, said that the production of a 'useable, practical' invisibility cloak is possible, but probably still decades away, as it needs super-materials that are not yet available.

The government, however, is pouring funds into research because greater knowledge of the technology could produce useful spinoffs.

“I went to an international forum on invisibility study in Paris last year and found that at least a third of the researchers came from mainland China,” Ma said. “It seems easy to get funds these days. You ask for it, you get it.’’

Ma also said his team would soon announce their latest discovery: a small device that allows objects to pass heat sensors and metal detectors unnoticed.

Ma’s device is as large as a match box, but it could be increased in size to allow weapons to pass through security checkpoints. Another potential application is to stop special agents or troops moving at night being caught by infrared cameras.Oh Jesus.


“Many people have asked me if the technology can be applied on fighter jets so they can get heat-seeking missiles off the tail. Well, we may work on that,’’ he said.

Ma belives he and his team have a 40 percent chance of making the world's first invisibility cloak, as his team has been collaborating with Chinese scientific community and the world's leading experts of invisibility technology.

Follow @shanghaiist

Chinese scientists 'increasingly confident' about development of real-life 'invisibility cloak': Shanghaiist​

 

[cirr]

Chinese Researchers Hot On The Trail Of Elusive Invisibility Cloak

December 10, 2013

Image Credit: ArtFamily / Shutterstock

The Chinese government is funding research projects in an attempt to create the world’s first invisibility cloak. The government has funded at least 40 research teams over the past three years to develop something that has only been seen in movies like Harry Potter.

According to a report by the South China Morning Post, scientists working on the project said Beijing believes the technology could lead to wider technological breakthroughs with broader uses.

A video published last month demonstrates how a device created by a team from Zhejiang University in China can make a goldfish “disappear” in its tank. The gadget is a hexagonal cylinder with a transparent passage on the inside, making anything that passes through it seem to disappear.

“When we see an object, what we receive actually is the natural light scattered from the object. We can see the object only after capturing the light,” Zheng Bin, one of the researchers responsible for the device, said in a video describing it.

The device utilizes glass with a high refractive index and special positioning, allowing the team to direct light around the object in the tub to give the impression it is not there at all. At the time the video came out, the device was only capable of making small living creatures like goldfish disappear, but since then the team says that it has made a cat disappear.

The team also revealed plans for another device that uses heat sensors and metal detectors to prevent objects from detection. This device is currently about the size of a matchbox, but eventually it could be enlarged to allow weapons to pass through security checkpoints.

“Many people have asked me if the technology can be applied on fighter jets so they can get heat-seeking missiles off their tail. Well, we may work on that,” Professor Ma Yungui, an optical engineering specialist at Zhejiang University, told the South China Morning Post.

Another team at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics is being funded to develop “full invisibility” technology and material for hypersonic jets. This vehicle could be used to deliver nuclear warheads around the world at speeds five times faster than sound.

Ma says a useable and practical invisibility cloak is still decades away, but the central government is still pouring funds into research because the theoretical knowledge gained could produce potential spin-offs.

“I went to an international forum on invisibility studies in Paris last year and found that at least a third of the researchers came from mainland China,” Ma told the Chinese news agency. “It is challenging to get a research grant no matter what the subject is, but the government’s support on fundamental frontier research such as invisibility study is strong and increasing.”

Professor Wang Guoping of the physics department at Wuhan University in Hubei province said the competition to develop the world’s first invisibility cloak is no longer about theory, but is instead about materials.

“Chinese scientists are gaining the lead not only on the invisibility cloak, but in many fields of advanced research,” Guoping said.


Read more at Invisibility Cloak May Be Just Decades Away, Say Chinese Researchers - Technology News - redOrbit

 

[cirr]

China's Scientific Research Developments: On The Forefront Of Invisibility Technology

By Michelle FlorCruz

on December 11 2013 6:34 AM

The Long March 3B rocket carrying the Chang'e-3 lunar probe is seen docked at the launch pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Liangshan, Sichuan province December 1, 2013. Reuters
China has been funneling a lot of state funds into beefing up its military, which for the most part involves investing in scientists and engineers to develop and design aircraft, naval equipment and weaponry. But the government has also been working on a different kind of military tool — developing an “invisibility cloak.”

According to the South China Morning Post, Beijing has put funding into at least 40 research teams in recent years to develop a technology that can make things “disappear” in what sounds like a page out of Harry Potter. Now some of China’s major research institutions believe they are on the cusp of technology that could be applied to stealth aircraft.

Though the device being developed by Professor Chen Hongsheng's team at Zhejiang University is not actually an invisibility cloak, it serves the same purpose, making things “disappear.” It is a hexagonal mirrored object that deflects and fragments light, creating electromagnetic fields that simulate an invisibility effect.

Other universities across China have made headway as well, but the military classification of the research doesn’t allow them to disclose any specifics. Members of one research group, at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, are not authorized to comment but did say that they are developing “full invisibility” technology and materials for hypersonic jets, which could potentially be used to deliver nuclear warheads anywhere in the world. “We are invisible people studying invisible technology,” one researcher said anonymously.

The innovation of such unprecedented technology has larger implications for China. China is struggling to catch up to science, technology and medical programs around the world, hoping to match its economic and business prowess. During a recent visit, British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said China is “at the forefront of medicine, hi-tech and computing.” With China’s fast growing space program already reaching new heights, with the first lunar probe launched earlier this month, China has found great national pride in scientific advances. China’s Chang’e-3 lunar probe is equipped with a moon rover, making the mission, if it succeeds, the nation’s first soft landing on any space body.

China's Scientific Research Developments: On The Forefront Of Invisibility Technology

 

[Skull and Bones]

I will start my master's research and thesis on the 'Simulation of negative refractive index metamaterials' from January. The problem with invisibility cloak is, the result is very much favorable on computer simulation, but quite hard to fabricate at that level.

Might be possible after 10-15 years, or if we learn to use the high frequency radiation spectrum for fabrication.

 

[najeeeeb]

hope so, and this will bring a sudden change in science and technology, and also the attention of country toward this for ....... needs.