This is not a click bait, but a vision of the times yet to come. Invisibility cloaks are a creation of literary works based on mere imagery suggesting to ply the ability of not being perceivable by the eye. This particular of imagination has full potential to become a successful reality with due manufacturing of metamaterials.
Metamaterials are artificial, engineered materials. Their creation is processed by the formation of a concoction of many elements from composite materials, such as metals and dielectrics. The outcome is entirely new material, and their properties are atypical and indifferent to those found in nature.
For a metamaterial to embody an invisibility cloak, it should procure optical properties. It would require scientists to design the material such that it doesn’t absorb or reflect light. For this feat, the right combination and structure are crucial. And considering that there are several potential materials bearing different optical responses, it is no less than finding a needle in the haystack. Such ambiguity calls for an accurate algorithm to be able to hit the jackpot.
Yongmin Liu, an assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at the Northeastern University, has devised a method to comb through hundreds and thousands of designs. Technically, the algorithm built by Liu and his team is provided with data sets of 30,000 potential models, a blueprint mapping relation between metamaterial structure and corresponding optical properties. And once the algorithm has transferred all the relationships it becomes able to predict or create new combinations.
Shuang Zhang, a professor of physics at the University of Birmingham, supports this research. Lauding the efforts of professor Liu, he says that the introduction of artificial intelligence to the metamaterial designs would help recognise their complete potential. Many engineers find the idea of this algorithm very useful, fast and accurate than all the previous approaches made in the domain. In regard to the invisibility cloaks, Liu hints that fabricating a wearable cloak with the current advanced technologies is a very significant challenge. And there are still 10-15 years before they come out of books and grace the market. Referencing to the magical realm of Harry Potter, where the invisibility cloaks were made from the hair of a magical creature, Demiguise.
Even though our world of realism contrasts with the fictional, there’s still a mad rage over invisibility cloaks. Now, dare say, if they become a reality, would that be a bold move or a covert one.
Magdali Kujur