New Device Guides Light Around Corners

ScienceDaily (Aug. 1, 2009) — Using a composite metamaterial to deliver a complex set of instructions to a beam of light, Boston College physicists have created a device to guide electromagnetic waves around objects such as the corner of a building or the profile of the eastern seaboard.

As directed by the researchers' novel device, these beams continue to behave as if traveling in a straight line. In one computer simulation, Assistant Professor of Physics Willie J. Padilla and researcher Nathan Landy revealed the device could steer a beam of light along the boundary of the US, stretching from Michigan to Maine, down the seaboard, around Florida and into the Louisiana bayou, according to research published in the research journal Optics Express.

The researchers accomplished their feat by developing a much more precise set of instructions, which create a grid-like roadmap capable of twisting and turning a beam of light around objects or space. Their discovery is an extension of earlier metamaterial "cloaking" techniques, which have conjured up images of the Harry Potter character disappearing beneath his invisibility cloak.

Padilla and Landy report developing a space-mapping technique that delivers greater precision and efficiency guiding light along pathways that previously were too complex to sustain – from 90-degree angles to the rugged coastal profile of Maine. Furthermore, they've built this new device using relatively common dielectric materials, such as silicon.

For the full article go here: www.sciencedaily.com...

first step to large-scale defense fields?

really cool.

[edit on 8/1/09 by CSquared288]

If its all types of EM, than this is indeed a breakthrough, but if its just light, I'm pretty sure I saw an infomercial for a laser level that could do such a thing already. It only had a range of 10 feet I think, maybe less. Michigan to maine is indeed an improvement over that. Great Find. It has a lot of potential.

Geezaloo! First they made aluminum go invisible now this, huh? It's been said that things will be rapidly advancing, especially in the field of science. Soon, we might start hearing news like this on a daily basis.

I just got through reading that article and I have to state, WTF! This seems like some scifi stuff to me. I have not heard of anything that can cause light to bend other than a gravity field.

that is so awesome.

imagine the entertainment/performance art/art installation applications!

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Hate to bring it out but project blubeam anyone?

but yea the entertainment industry is gonna go manic over this

reply to post by zetamafia911


Indeed, realistic holograms seem like a likely by-product of this technology.

When I first read the thread title, I immediately thought, 'what, like a mirror?' Then I told myself to not be so damn flippant and read the article.

It's very very sci-fi, but if this gets pulled off on a large, workable scale, imagine the implications! Not only in insane-fast communications, but also strange consumer goods further down the line. Of course the military would doubtless span this up pretty sharpish!

It uses a dielectric medium such as silicon? So the light is traveling through the dielectric medium?

Isn't that what fiber optics does too?

Did they say it was being tested via computer simulation? Sorry I have to read about it more, lazy.

Originally posted by purehughness
Of course the military would doubtless span this up pretty sharpish!

No doubt.

I'm just guessing but the fact that we know about this now probably means that the military have known about this for sometime and have already scaled it up.

I don't really get it. They mention something about a device and how it can bend light. It really needs more explanation as to what's actually going on.

Could this tech one day be used to creat optical camo,a la Metal Gear Solid?

I bet DARPA have been all over this for years.

I don't know, after reading the article I'm not so excited about this. From the limited information in the article it seems they are putting a lot of fancy words in there to say that they developed a material to bend light but keep the waves in the same relation or pattern as if they were traveling in a straight line. In other words a lens without distortion.

If I am reading it correctly, it does not mean they can send out a beam of light and have it bend and curve on it's own without passing through some other material.

Hmm oh well,I guess a lens without distortion sounds pretty cool in its own right,maybe a new generation of telescopes could come about?

As usual the article does not contain any hint of what they did. Probably the author has no clue about it.

I tried to search but the same story is copy-pasted on all websites, we'll have to wait till someone bothers to put clear information.

It seems that the light will not magically bend in air, as many are thinking. They have proposed a metamaterial which can be 'programmed' to twist and turn the light around a complex path, as the light travels through it. And it is only a simulation not real.

Unfortunately, they had the US coastline shape as an example for the path, and that went over the head of the author, causing confusion for all.

[edit on 2/8/2009 by rocksolidbrain]

Originally posted by prevenge
that is so awesome.

imagine the entertainment/performance art/art installation applications!

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wow! that is somthing to ponder. opens a whole new dimension to lazer shows

Originally posted by theflashor

Originally posted by prevenge
that is so awesome.

imagine the entertainment/performance art/art installation applications!

-

wow! that is somthing to ponder. opens a whole new dimension to lazer shows

And some nice 3D stuff!

we already have bullets that can go curved.

Somebody invented the mirror?

Gosh.