U research enters realm of Hogwarts

This week on the big screen, the world will be watching the latest adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s bestselling Harry Potter series. Defying reality, Harry dons a magic invisibility cloak to disappear and sneak around Hogwarts undetected. The dream of making objects invisible has always crossed the imaginations of humanity and is seen throughout works of fiction.

Researchers around the world are chasing down the invisibility theory and developing models to create a technology that makes an object become invisible. Several of these building blocks have come from the work of Graeme Milton, a professor of mathematics at the U. In 1994, Milton began his cloaking research using applied mathematics in Australia.

His concept is simple, assuming you know biology, calculus, engineering and physics. Milton’s superlens research describes the ability to hide or “cloak” an object through the manipulation of light. Rather than the cloaking region being contained within the device, Milton suggests that ability lies outside the device.

According to the National Science Foundation, the superlens theory “cloaks a nearby object by making light behave in an unusual way. Instead of having a positive refractive index that makes light bend in the same way as it does when passing from air into a medium like glass or water, the superlens has a negative refractive index that in essence causes light to reverse and travel backwards. When an object is placed next to the superlens, the light bouncing off the object is canceled out by the light reflecting off the superlens, rendering the object invisible. Milton said the phenomenon is somewhat analogous to the noise cancellation headphones passengers wear on airplanes.”

Although the research has a long way to go before invisibility devices can be applied in real-world situations, scientists are now testing the theory. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed optical-camouflage technology while scientists at the University of California-Berkeley have created a “carpet cloak” from nanostructured silicon that conceals the presence of objects placed under it from optical detection.

Technology will continue to surprise us and achieve things we never thought possible. We won’t need to be a wizard to become invisible. The invisibility application and other creations from science fiction novels will continue to come increasingly faster as we continue dreaming and developing the technologies to make them a reality. It’s nice to know there are people at the U doing such interesting work. Bravo to those at the university, such as Milton, who put the U on the map.

http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/opinion/u-research-enters-realm-of-hogwarts-1.1774115