Why
do you think your paper is highly cited?
It offers a new method of controlling electromagnetic (EM)
fields and uses this method to solve a long-standing problem:
how to design a cloak that makes an object invisible.
Does
it describe a new discovery, methodology, or synthesis of knowledge?
The paper describes both a new methodology and then uses this
methodology to make a new discovery—see above.
Would
you summarize the significance of your paper in layman’s terms?
The paper creates the possibility of designing extraordinary
new devices with applications in many different fields: new
optical devices, shielding from EM radiation—such as radar or
mobile phone signals and applications in medial imaging.
How
did you become involved in this research, and were there any
particular problems encountered along the way?
Together with my collaborators at Duke University, I was
already working on a new class of materials, metamaterials,
which can be designed to have almost any desired response to
radiation. We wanted to create a methodology that exploited this
design flexibility.
Where
do you see your research leading in the future?
There are potential applications across the entire EM
spectrum. We are already working in collaboration with the
Hammersmith hospital on applications to magnetic resonance
imaging.
Cloaking an object to radar signals is another important
application, or shielding objects from mobile telephone
radiation. At higher frequencies, there will be applications for
controlling the new Terahertz radiation.
Ultimately, we want to control visible light but the short
wavelength makes this a technological challenge for the moment.
Are
there any social or political implications for your research?
I hope not!
Professor Sir John Pendry
Department of Physics
Imperial College London
London, UK
Sir John Pendry
answers a few questions about this month's
new hot paper in the field of Physics.
The author has also
sent along images of their work.
