Uli Wiesner from Wesner Lab, has shown how to create metamaterial by using chemistry. The process involves in using what is called block copolymers to assemble 3-D structure in nanoscale features
As you all know, polymer is substance that is made up by binding to molecules together to form a new material with new properties. A block copolymers on the other hand is the combination of two or more polymers. Now the two solid polymers will form geometric shapes with interconnected pattern that can be called as gyroid. More complex pattern or shapes can be achieved by using three polymers instead of just two.
After this process, one of the polymers will be melted or dissolved, creating a hollow area which can be used to mold metal in nanoscale features, usually gold or silver. Now the gyroid consists of polymer and metal. The polymer is then burned, leaving the porous metal structure alone. Through all these process, Wiesner and his team researchers suggest that they can make the metal gyroid so that it can allow light to pass through.
Using this process, the team said it is possible to create a materials with negative refractive index which is essentially metamaterial. The team now is conducting computer simulations to create the correct pattern for metal gyroid to be able to pass the light and have a negative refractive index in visible and near-infrared range. With this achievement, the world may be able to see cloaking device as has been seen in Star Trek or Harry Potter
The technology comes from 2003, but it's developers say the Harry Potter-like invisibility cloak is just the beginning. The team, led by Dr. Susumu Tachi, from Keio University, is now adapting their findings to help pilots, drivers, doctors and others. Retro-reflective projection technology uses a computer, a video camera and projector to shine background images onto the front of a subject wearing specialised clothing, creating the illusion of invisibility.What makes the technology unique is a fabric made of glass beads only 50 microns wide, which can reflect light directly back at the source, much like the screen in a cinema.
Viewed from near the light source, the projection is bright even in broad daylight, and researchers say the material can be applied to almost anything. In the short term, the team sees usage in car interiors, airplanes and helicopters. They say blind spots could be eliminated and accidents and hard landings avoided by making walls seemingly transparent.The eventual goal though is to create an "augmented reality" that allows anyone to easily see information on real world objects.
Looking to the future, instead of glasses, people could wear this and it would act as a navigation system. It could also tell you who someone is, if you meet them around town." In the few years since the technology's invention, the price of the material, as well as that of computing, has come down, opening the door for smaller yet more powerful applications.Whether used to increase safety or to create a whole new form of computer-human interaction, the world is likely to see, or possibly not see, more of this technology in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment