New Composite Material


Message posted by Rocketfox on April 05, 2001 at 17:17:56 PST:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Experiments on a newly created composite material have shown that it
bends microwaves passing through it in a direction that seems to defy the laws of physics, scientists
said on Thursday, in a discovery that could help in making more advanced lenses and antennas.

The composite, made of fiberglass and copper, caused microwaves shot through it to bend in an
opposite direction than the laws of physics predict, making it the first material to have a ``negative
index of refraction,'' physicists said in a study appearing in the journal Science.

Electromagnetic radiation -- such as light and microwaves -- passing through ordinary materials is
deflected in the same direction, giving those materials a ``positive index of refraction,'' they said. An
example is the way light bends when it passes from air to water.

The composite could be useful in developing better antennas and other technology for the cellular
communications industry, said physicist Sheldon Schultz, who created the material along with
colleagues David Smith and Richard Shelby at the University of California at San Diego.


Totally aside from what the article said, anyone besides me see the possibilities inherent in this stuff?

full text @ http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010405/sc/material_dc_1.html

Coming soon, to secret airfield near you....

R*


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