by Cyrus Farivar
05.29.07 | 2:00 AMResearchers claim to have developed the first mathematical model for creating invisibility simulations on a computer, but possible real-world applications — say, a gadget that works like Harry Potter’s cloak — so far seem far-fetched.
In the May 1 issue of Optics Letters, a team of scientists published a paper outlining a “numeric simulation” for cloaking. The software program recreates a breakthrough 2006 experiment, run by David Smith and David Shurig of Duke University and John Pendry of the Imperial College London, showing that it’s possible to cloak a simple cylinder from microwave radiation.
The mathematical model could help scientists frame up new experiments and further push the edge of cloaking technology, experts said. “It’s very valuable to have reliable simulation techniques and to check the conditions in the computer before you build them in the laboratory,” said Ulf Leonhardt, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland, who was not an author on the simulation paper.
Magicians have used sleight-of-hand techniques for centuries to make objects seem to disappear, and some recent technology demonstrations have more or less achieved the same thing.
