4 ms·

Apparently the same scientist published the description of these materials 10 years ago in Nature: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kosmas_Tsakmakidis2/pub

Apparently the same scientist published the description of these materials 10 years ago in Nature: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kosmas_Tsakmakidis2/publication/5843358_Nature_Trapped_Rainbow_Storage_of_Light_in_Metamaterials/links/541054f70cf2df04e75d2438/Nature-Trapped-Rainbow-Storage-of-Light-in-Metamaterials.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kosmas_Tsakmakidis2/pub...

JoeAltmaier 9y ago
Wasn't that a concept paper? They did analysis then; they produced no actual material or device. Now they have. 10 years seems like about the right delay between conceiving of a material, and creating it?
- daveguy 9y ago
  Right. That's what I was pointing out. The description / concept came 10 years ago. Point was he's been working on it for 10 years.
jpmattia 9y ago
I haven't studied both the original link and your link in detail, but at a quick look: They are different things. Metamaterials usually are periodic combinations that exhibit interesting properties. So-called "photonic bandgap materials" are an example. The paper you linked shows that strange things can happen to the group velocities in these types of materials. The phys.org link (based on a Science paper [1]) is about a cavity utilizing non-reciprocal materials. Normally systems involving Maxwell's equations are reciprocal; you can switch the input and output and expect the same behavior. For a basic example, if you look through a tube and see me at the other end, then I will be able to see you as well. In a non-reciprocal system, this property breaks down. Microwave circulators are a good example: A device with three ports A, B, and C can have energy coming from A going to B, energy coming from B going to C, energy coming from C going to A. This device is handy if you don't want reflected E&M power from your antenna coming back into your generating circuit. It was well known to guys working on radar, for example. The real miracle in this paper is that no one put it together sooner: Non-reciprocal devices have been around forever, and resonators more so, but that the combination might be useful has not occurred to anyone? Quite amazing. They probably blew all kinds of time researching through old literature to make sure this hasn't already been mentioned by the radar guys in the 40s. [1] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6344/1260 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6344/1260
- ttctciyf 9y ago
  > That was the very centre of his genius - he invented things that anyone could have thought of, and men who can invent things that anyone could have thought of are very rare men. - Terry Pratchett[1] 1: https://libquotes.com/terry-pratchett/quote/lbd3a3k https://libquotes.com/terry-pratchett/quote/lbd3a3k
- oceanswave 9y ago
  Thanks for the write up -- the description reminded me of the ST:TNG episode where Scotty defeats being trapped on a Dyson sphere by rigging the transporter buffer to cycle in a loop with a reenergization every n cycles While not transparent aluminum, maybe Scotty really did invent something in the past

JoeAltmaier 9y ago

Wasn't that a concept paper? They did analysis then; they produced no actual material or device. Now they have. 10 years seems like about the right delay between conceiving of a material, and creating it?

daveguy 9y ago
Right. That's what I was pointing out. The description / concept came 10 years ago. Point was he's been working on it for 10 years.

jpmattia 9y ago

I haven't studied both the original link and your link in detail, but at a quick look: They are different things. Metamaterials usually are periodic combinations that exhibit interesting properties. So-called "photonic bandgap materials" are an example. The paper you linked shows that strange things can happen to the group velocities in these types of materials. The phys.org link (based on a Science paper [1]) is about a cavity utilizing non-reciprocal materials. Normally systems involving Maxwell's equations are reciprocal; you can switch the input and output and expect the same behavior. For a basic example, if you look through a tube and see me at the other end, then I will be able to see you as well. In a non-reciprocal system, this property breaks down. Microwave circulators are a good example: A device with three ports A, B, and C can have energy coming from A going to B, energy coming from B going to C, energy coming from C going to A. This device is handy if you don't want reflected E&M power from your antenna coming back into your generating circuit. It was well known to guys working on radar, for example. The real miracle in this paper is that no one put it together sooner: Non-reciprocal devices have been around forever, and resonators more so, but that the combination might be useful has not occurred to anyone? Quite amazing. They probably blew all kinds of time researching through old literature to make sure this hasn't already been mentioned by the radar guys in the 40s. [1] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6344/1260 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6344/1260

ttctciyf 9y ago
> That was the very centre of his genius - he invented things that anyone could have thought of, and men who can invent things that anyone could have thought of are very rare men. - Terry Pratchett[1] 1: https://libquotes.com/terry-pratchett/quote/lbd3a3k https://libquotes.com/terry-pratchett/quote/lbd3a3k
oceanswave 9y ago
Thanks for the write up -- the description reminded me of the ST:TNG episode where Scotty defeats being trapped on a Dyson sphere by rigging the transporter buffer to cycle in a loop with a reenergization every n cycles While not transparent aluminum, maybe Scotty really did invent something in the past