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New invisibility cloak combines metamaterials and fancy electronics to be thinner, lighter, more invisible
A researcher at the University of Texas at Austin has devised an invisibility cloak that could work over a broad range of frequencies, including visible light and microwaves. This is a significant upgrade from current invisibility cloaks that only cloak a very specific frequency — say, a few hertz in the microwave band — and, more importantly, actually make cloaked objects more visible to other frequencies. The UT Austin cloak would achieve this goal by being active and electrically powered, rather than dumb and passive like existing invisibility cloaks.
This is what a metamaterial looks like
As you probably know, the last few years have seen a lot of research into invisibility cloaks. These cloaks are mostly based on metamaterials — special, man-made materials that bend radiation in ways that shouldn’t technically be possible, allowing for cloaking devices that bend radiation around an object, hiding it from view. (Check out our featured story, The wonderful world of wonder materials.) The problem with these cloaks is that metamaterials are tuned to a very specific frequency — so, while that specific frequency (say, a thin band of microwaves) passes around the object, every other frequency scatters off the cloak. In a beautiful twist of irony, most invisibility cloaks actually create more scattered light, making the cloaked object stand out more than if it was just standing there uncloaked.
According to Andrea Alù at UT Austin, this is a fundamental issue of passive invisibility cloaks, and the only way to get around it is to use cloaks fashioned out of active, electrically active materials. It might change in the future with more advanced passive metamaterials, but for now active designs are the way forward. Research into active invisibility cloaks is currently being carried out by multiple groups, but none have yet been built.
A graph showing the broadband invisibility of an active cloak. Note how the passive cloak (blue) is actually more visible than a non-cloaked object.
Alù’s proposed design consists of a conventional metamaterial base, but with CMOS negative impedance converters (NICs) placed at the corner of each metamaterial square (top image). A NIC is an interesting electronic component that adds negative resistance to a circuit, injecting energy rather than consuming it. NICs are not widely used as we’re not entirely sure how to use them. Alù seems to propose that by interspersing NICs (which must be powered) with the metamaterial, multiple frequencies can be cloaked. In the image above, you can see a standard metamaterial cloak (blue), vs Alù’s metamaterial-and-NIC cloak (green). Alù’s proposed cloak is invisible over a large range of frequencies, while a standard passive cloak is only invisible for a small range, and more visible than non-cloaked devices in other ranges.
From our own experience with writing about invisibility cloaks on ExtremeTech, we’d have to agree that active designs make more sense. Where passive cloaks have all been incredibly bulky and not all that effective, an active cloak can be thinner, more flexible, and capable of cloaking a much wider range of frequencies. Given our mastery of CMOS, and the utterly insane things that we can do with computer chips, it seems foolhardy to not pursue active, electronic invisibility cloaks.
In hindsight, maybe this is the approach that the Canadian camouflage kook is using to achieve his Quantum Stealth tech. But I doubt it somehow.
Now read: Invisibility cloak made from simple mirrors can stop time indefinitely
Research papers: 10.1103/PhysRevX.3.041005 – “Do Cloaked Objects Really Scatter Less?” [Free PDF] & arXiv:1306.5835 - “Broadening the Bandwidth of Metamaterial Cloaks with Non-Foster Metasurfaces”
Source: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/170709-new-invisibility-cloak-combines-metamaterials-and-fancy-electronics-to-be-thinner-lighter-more-invisible
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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