Technology to make things invisable not that far away?

[Coopz]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21514041-2,00.html

Physicists figured out the complex mathematical equations for making objects invisible by bending light around them last year.

Now a group of engineers at Purdue University in Indiana has used those calculations to design a relatively simple device that may one day be able to make objects as big as a plane disappear.

The design calls for tiny metal needles to be fitted into a cone like a hairbrush, at angles and lengths that would force light to pass around it. This would make everything inside the cone appear to vanish because the light would no longer reflect off it.

Very cool

[abadonn]

Sadly I'm guessing this 'invention' will dissappear into nothingness. Firstly it seems to require very specific conditions to work. Like one frequency of light. The suggestion is that it could 'defeat' laser designators and night vision goggles. But I"m guessing the 100 billion dollars to invest in the scheme would be defeated by 20m spent on multifrequency laser designators and night vision goggles. In normal daylight it sounds useless ,even tho the inventor says it 'possible' to make it work. I'm betting it'll never work.

paulh

[mattz0r]

Metamaterials are a more viable and flexible option than this. A huge amount of research is going into this topic. I think about half of the EM papers being published at the moment are on metamaterials and their applications.