Fatal Flaw Discovered In Invisibility Cloaks 255
KentuckyFC writes "Carpet cloaks took the world by storm last year because they were the first devices to hide objects at optical frequencies. The idea is that a thin layer of dielectric material placed on a surface can make light look as if it is reflecting off the original surface. In other words, the layer is invisible and anything embedded within it is invisible too. This trick is like hiding something under a carpet, hence the name. Carpet cloaks are relatively easy to make because the dielectric material does not need to be specially constructed to steer light in special ways; physicists call this an isotropic material. Now a group at MIT has shown that isotropic carpet cloaks have a fatal flaw. When viewed at an angle, the carpets don't hide objects at all. Instead, they simply shift their position by about the same distance as they are high. So when viewed from an angle of 45 degrees, an object 0.2 units high is shifted to one side by a distance of 0.15 units, says the team. That's a serious limitation for carpet cloaks."
Invisible post (Score:1, Funny)
Finally!!! (Score:4, Funny)
Fatal Flaw Discovered In Invisibility Cloaks (Score:3, Funny)
You could bump into the invisible object.
Re:Wrong Cloak (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The fatal flaw is: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:bummer (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The fatal flaw is: (Score:5, Funny)
No, the fatal flaw is that a cloaked object moving at warp speed emits a slight subspace variance. Adversaries performing an antiproton scan may also be a problem.
Re:The fatal flaw is: (Score:5, Funny)
What if we modify the phase variance?
Re:Pictures (Score:4, Funny)
In the meantime, here's a close-up photo of a black hole [ubermorgen.com].
ever since they discoverd this theoretical flaw (Score:3, Funny)
in a theoretical device, i have been theoretically impressed
Re:The fatal flaw is: (Score:5, Funny)
What if we modify the phase variance?
yeah, as long as we randomly modulate the shield frequencies, reverse the polarity of the heisenberg compensators, and amplify the transporter buffers... we should be good to go. Earl Grey tea never tasted so good.
Re:Invisible post (Score:2, Funny)
You can't see this post, oh wait, maybe you can...
Yes, I can, but 1.5 posts below where it actually is.
I see no sig... (Score:2, Funny)
I'm sorry, my "Disable sigs" preference has completely cloaked your sig.
Re:bummer (Score:5, Funny)
Unfortunately, every member of the search team is slacking off, assuming someone else is looking for it.
Re:I see no sig... (Score:2, Funny)
Adjust your viewing angle
Re:I guess? (Score:2, Funny)
That depends. If the cloaks only affect visible light: No, the tracking missile would not miss you. Most missile guidance systems are still based on RADAR or IR, which do not use visible light.
I'm willing to take my chances that Natalie Portman does not have tracking missiles in her bedroom.
I would also assume that what you'd be hiding is so small as to render an invisibility cloak redundant.
Reverse the polarity? (Score:5, Funny)
What if we modify the phase variance?
yeah, as long as we randomly modulate the shield frequencies, reverse the polarity of the heisenberg compensators, and amplify the transporter buffers... we should be good to go. Earl Grey tea never tasted so good.
Now see here... If the polarity of anything is to be reversed, then clearly we should start with the neutron flow...
Re:The fatal flaw is: (Score:5, Funny)
This solution will never work.
No one has even suggested routing extra power to the main deflector array yet.
Re:The fatal flaw is: (Score:4, Funny)
No, no, no. You need to narrow the angular confinement beam.
Fatal flaw? (Score:2, Funny)
Many Bothans died to bring us the information that farting while wearing an invisibility cloak will give away your location.
Suckers! (Score:2, Funny)
You are falling right into the trap. Of course they want you to look at this cloak so that you don't notice the other one. The story is clearly part of a larger misdirection strategy. . .