'Antimagnet' Cloak Hides Objects From Magnetic Fields

ananyo writes "Researchers have made a cloak that can hide objects from static magnetic fields, realizing a theoretical prediction they made last year. This 'antimagnet' could have medical applications, but could also be used to subvert airport security. The cloak's interior is lined with turns of tape made from a high-temperature superconductor. Superconductors repel magnetic fields, so any magnetic field enclosed within a superconductor would be undetectable from outside. But the superconductor itself would still perturb an external magnetic field, so the researchers coated its external side with an ordinary ferromagnet. The superconductor tries to repel external field lines, whereas the ferromagnet tries to draw them in — together, the two layers cancel each other out (abstract)."

Re:Airport security?

[Brad1138]

Don't assume airport security adheres to any sort of logic...

Re:Airport security?

[tylerni7]

No look, this is perfect. We convince DHS that the terrorists are trying to develop room temperature superconductors to subvert metal detectors and security checkpoints.

Then, clearly the solution is for DHS to start giving obscene amounts of money to physicists in the USA to develop the technology first! It's pretty much a win-win-win situation.

Protect magnetic storage?

[danaris]

So...is this something that could someday be used to protect magnetic storage media from accidental (or even deliberate) exposure to magnetic fields?

Dan Aris

Re:No problem for airport security

[jdgeorge]

But now, why are people so concerned about airport security anyway? The invention has no relation to it.

They're not really concerned with airport security. Slashdotters desperately crave upward moderation. Posting a clever remark related to a popular meme is the easiest way to satisfy that desire.

Re:High temperature superconductor, misleading

[theshowmecanuck]

That was my first thought. But this might end up being a good prod to get true high temperature superconductor research a super boost. One of the main methods used to detect submarines in the military are magnetic anomaly detectors usually attached to a plane or helicopter. The aircraft don't even need to dip them in the water, just fly over and look for magnetic anomalies (granted the sub needs to be fairly close... but I'm not sure if the military tells anyone what counts as really close). So the crux is that if this will help hide their subs, DARPA and the military might be inclined to shovel piles of money into high temperature superconductors. Although I'm sure they have financed this in the past, this direct applications of stealth for submarines could help with an improved cash flow (or maybe this project is financed this way already.... ?). mmmmm blah blah blah ... profit! Or something like that.