The Next Frontier: Transformation Optics

摘要

Active/adaptive camouflage systems as described in this article, and based on the projection of a scene are already quite science-fiction like on their own (indeed this was the basis for the movie, "Predator"), but they are not the most advanced technology sector being explored in the search for the "cloak of invisibility". Indeed, other solutions are being already hinted at, that would be far more efficient and practical to use than active camouflage. These are based on a phenomenon known as transformation optics, whereby some wavelengths -including visible light - can be "bent" and made to flow around an object like water around a stone. As a result, things behind the object become visible as if light had passed through an empty space, while the object itself disappears from view. Transformation optics could in theory not only conceal objects, but even make them appear to be located where they are not.