In fact, the word invisibility has long appeared in the game of fighters and radars, but people at that time were not as close to invisibility cloaks as they are now. If the uniform can change color with the environment like a chameleon, then soldiers can remain invisible whether they go up the mountain or down the sea. According to Hong Kong Ta Kung Pao, researchers at Sandia National Laboratory in the United States said that it has been proved theoretically that artificial materials can change color like chameleons and some fish, and it is believed that it only takes five to ten years to develop color-changing materials. [Edit this paragraph] Stealth uniforms-basic principles It is a good goal to develop materials that can perceive the environment and make adjustments. There are better things in natural systems than man-made systems, one of which is the ability to perceive and adapt to the environment. Using this biological characteristic, we can not only develop color-changing materials, but also develop other characteristics of materials, including air permeability and temperature control ability. For example, in New Mexico, USA, in spring, it is very cold in the morning, but it gets warmer in the afternoon. In the future, people only need to put on a dress that can be adjusted to keep warm, so they don't need to change clothes. [Edit this paragraph] Stealth uniforms-research status, preliminary research
Stealth uniform material
Basan, who studies bioengineering, said that scientists have mastered how to change two colors back and forth. The next step is to understand how to achieve this effect in an artificial environment, and then develop materials that can change color.
If this technology is applied to the military, it can also make breathable and comfortable military uniforms, and its materials can also resist chemical warfare and block harmful chemicals. Last year 10, the magazine Biotechnology and Bioengineering published a paper on the color-changing materials in Sandia laboratory. The magazine Advanced Materials published on February 2, 2008/KLOC-0 also took this research as the theme of its cover article.
Latest progress
Scientists from Duke University and Southeast University in China announced that they have developed an invisibility cloak that can distort microwaves. This achievement was published in the top journal Science on June 65438+1October 65438+June 2009.
Liu Ruopeng, born in 1980s in China, is the first author of the article and the person in charge of the project. He said, "The cloak's ability to make objects invisible can develop other invisibility functions. The key technology lies in the design of complex specific materials. " This complex design benefits from the rapid design system of special materials developed by Liu Ruopeng and other researchers for a long time, which enables thousands of complex electromagnetic microstructures to be automatically designed in a short time.
In 2007, Chen Hongsheng, a postdoctoral fellow at Zhejiang University Branch of the International Academy of Electromagnetic Sciences, cooperated with his tutor Academician Kong Jinou and the electromagnetic wave theory and application research center of Massachusetts Institute of Technology to complete a paper on invisibility cloaks —— Research on the interaction mechanism between electromagnetic waves and invisibility cloaks. This research result explained the physical mechanism of invisibility cloaks for the first time in the international scientific and technological community and proposed a theoretical framework for quantitative analysis of invisibility effects. The academic circles said that "this achievement will play an important guiding role in the design of invisibility cloaks". [Edit this paragraph] Stealth uniform-application direction military direction
David smith, a professor at Duke University, is the second author of American Science Report. In 2000, a research group led by Smith developed a material similar to a grid, which is said to change the propagation route of light. In 2003, all American soldiers
Several laboratories in the world have confirmed the research results of Smith's team, and then Science magazine listed it as one of the scientific breakthroughs of that year 10. It is this breakthrough in the invention of natural laws that laid the foundation for the development of invisibility cloaks.
The U.S. Department of Defense strongly funded the research work of Smith Group. It is conceivable that the military is one of the important uses of invisibility cloaks. Smith said that stealth materials can be used to hide reconnaissance planes and protect special forces entering enemy positions. Sir John Pendry, a theoretical physicist at the University of London, predicts that the military will use this technology within five years to prevent ships and tanks from being discovered by radar microwave detection systems.
Civil direction
The Smith team also said that some ugly factories, such as oil refineries and chemical plants, can also be covered with a layer of stealth materials to ensure the harmony of the overall urban landscape. Even researchers can develop other types of civil stealth materials, such as changing the direction of seismic waves or preventing the leakage of radioactive materials. [Edit this paragraph] Related development of stealth uniforms Stealth technology promotes the development of lenses.
Zhang Xiang, president of the University of California at Berkeley, director of the National Nanoscience Research Center and a Chinese scientist, once said that invisible materials have far more important and far-reaching uses than invisibility cloaks. His own most principled analysis
In fact, what is valued is not the invisibility cloak, but a field that can be used quickly with a real knife and a real gun-the lens. Negative refractive materials can bend visible light and near infrared light on the nanometer scale. If this spectacle can be realized on a normal scale in the next step, the invisibility effect is expected to become a reality.
With the help of lenses made of negative refractive materials, researchers can work on a very small scale and make smaller circuits, which will mean that the storage capacity and integration capacity of the chip will be greatly improved. Nano-scale integrated circuits of high-performance computers and DVDs with higher storage capacity may also follow.
Negative refractive lenses are also expected to bring great changes to scientific research fields such as biology. The existing microscope allows scientists to see a single cell, but can't see how it works inside. With the help of the negative refractive lens with greatly reduced diffraction limit, scientists will be expected to spy inside living cells, which will have a great impact on studying the mechanism of virus invading cells and screening new drugs. [Edit this paragraph] Stealth uniform-positive effect of social impact
With the successful development of stealth suit, soldiers can remain stealth no matter whether they go up the mountain or down the sea. Develop materials that can perceive the environment and make adjustments. If this technology is applied to the military, it can also make breathable and comfortable military uniforms, and its materials can also resist chemical warfare and block harmful chemicals.