KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - A top Chinese scientist says Harry Potter's 'invisible cloak' can soon become a reality - giving a demonstration that made his audience at a scientific event gasp as he made his legs 'disappear'.
Chu Junhao, an infrared physicist and academician from the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences, did this with the help of a special material called "lenticular grating" that allows light to be refracted regularly.
"When I read Harry Potter as a child, I never thought that one day someone would be able to appear in front of me wearing such a cloak of invisibility, and now I look at the day may not be too far away," was the response of one netizen said on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo.
The event was live-streamed online.
IT'S SCIENCE, NOT MAGIC
According to Chu, today's technological developments opened the door to 'invisibility' - paving the way for more life-changing "invisibility equipment" in the future, such as invisible rooms with better privacy and invisible hearing aids.
The almost magical material "lenticular grating" is man-made, comprising rows of tiny cylindrical convex lenses arranged into a cylindrical convex lens.
Each cylindrical convex lens acts to compress the object behind an object into a thin strip. Sufficient quantity of such lenses will break the object into an infinite number of identical thin strips - thus giving the illusion of invisibility.
"Whether in real life or in the world of nature and animals there is a lot of 'invisibility', and this is not magic, but is a scientific means," Global Times reported Chu as telling his awed audience.
"In the future, with the gradual maturity of technology and 'metamaterials', the invisibility fantasy in science fiction works will gradually come to reality," the well-respected scientist added.
NEW FRONTIER FOR 'PERFECT INVISIBILITY' IN SIGHT
Indeed, the advent of newer and even more advanced metamaterials opens the door for "perfect invisibility of any electromagnetic wave" in the future, although not yet now as these can still be detected by infrared, radar or lasers.
The man-made metamaterial is a composite material that changes the conventional properties of light and electromagnetic waves by designing and reorganizing the fine structure of the material.
The refractive index is also key in the process. When the fabric of a garment and the air refractive index are the same, people who wear the fabric can be "freely invisible", says Chu.
"In addition, refractive index can also be used to achieve 'invisibility', for example, objects with high borosilicate glass materials can also be 'invisible' when moving in glycerol with a refractive index close to its own," Chu noted.
NOT YET PERFECT, THE INVISIBILITY CAN STILL BE DETECTED BY INFRA-RED, RADAR OR LASERS
According to Chu, the forefront of "invisibility" research is now focused on finding solutions to avoid infrared detection.
"The real perfect invisibility requires that the detection means can be avoided, and its essence is the low detectability of any electromagnetic wave," said Chu.
He added that with the increasing diversification of modern detection means, it is not easy to invent an invisibility process that can escape every detection machine currently available in the ever-increasing security market.
"For a single spectrum, such as visible light, infrared light, or for a single type of detector, such as radar, while laser detection has long been unable to meet the people's need for invisibility," lamented Chu.
Even so, concerns are growing that if Chu's invisibility technology does become widespread, what are the implications for the crime rate?
"The law should also be improved to prevent similar situations from happening." said another netizen.
Written by Lansono Wong, Politics Now!
Politics Now!
Comments