Will the invisibility cloak soon become reality thanks to superconducting materials?

The idea of ​​an invisibility cloak may seem more magic than science, but researchers are currently working to produce devices capable of dispersing and bending light in such a way as to create the effect of invisibility. Until now, these devices have relied on metamaterials - a material that has been specially designed to possess new properties not found in natural substances or the individual particles of that material - but the study by Chen and co-authors suggests the use of a-MoO3. (Molybdenum trioxide) to create these invisibility devices.

Possessing some unique properties, this material can provide an excellent platform for energy flow control. The team's simulation results showed that when cylindrical or rolled a-MoO3 materials replace metamaterials, the simplified invisibility concentrator can achieve the effects of electromagnetic invisibility and energy concentration that would be demonstrated by a near-perfect invisibility device. .

Consequently, the study shows that hyperbolic materials such as a-MoO3 and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) could serve as a new basis for transformation optics, opening up the possibility of photonic devices beyond invisibility concentrators , including best-in-class infrared imaging and sensing systems.

Diagram of component H z when point source is positioned ar = R1 (a) in vacuum and (b) invisibility concentrator a-MoO3 and r = R2 in vacuum (c) and (d) a-MoO3 invisibility concentrator, respectively. Credits: Nanophotonics Transformation optics has been a hot topic in physics in recent decades thanks to the discovery that the path that light takes through a continuous medium can be the same as its propagation through a curved space that has undergone a coordinated transformation.

The consequence of this is that the behavior of light can be manipulated as it passes through a material, something that has led to the creation of a multitude of new optical devices, such as invisibility cloaks - a camouflage material that could cover an object and bend the light around it making it almost disappear - and other optical illusion devices.

“This is the first time that 2D materials have been used for optical transformation devices. Usually, we need metamaterials, but this is much simpler, ”says Chen. The researcher went on to explain that the first application for the results of this study could be a large energy concentrator capable of improving such devices. "We are now carrying out experiments by rolling up a-MoO3, the results of which we hope will appear very soon".