November 13, 2013 · 5:45 PM
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Nader Engheta, University of Pennsylvania
Invisibility cloak anyone? This months Science Cafe is presented by LRSM lab at UPenn on using meta-materials to play with light.
Talk starts at 6, but lets meet early to grab good seats and get a bit to eat/drink from the HH menu.
How can we make an object invisible? When a wave hits an object, it scatters, and that splashing of waves is how we can see that object. What if we design a structure that cloaks an object, i.e., it channels an incoming wave around it, without being scattered so we don't see that object? Metamaterials and nanotechnology may provide recipes for such interesting possibilities. Conversely, there are features of light that our eyes cannot see. Can we build cameras that make these features detectable, allowing us to make invisible things visible?