Mathematicians Propose "Cloaking Device"

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

The starship cloaking device is a common feature of science fiction - usually with little or no suggestion as to how it might work. Now two mathematicians have come up with a theory.

Nicolae Nicorovici and Graeme Milton have published (Proceedings of the Royal Society A) a paper titled On the cloaking effects associated with anomalous localized resonance. This describes how proximity to a superlens could appear to make objects vanish. According to the abstract:

"Regions of anomalous localized resonance, such as occurring near superlenses, are shown to lead to cloaking effects. This occurs when the resonant field generated by a polarizable line or point dipole acts back on the polarizable line or point dipole and effectively cancels the field acting on it from outside sources."

At the moment it's only a mathematical theory. And it only works for particles the size of a speck of dust - however in the future it might provide the basis for practical cloaking technology.

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