Transformation optics make a U-turn for the better
Powerful new microscopes able to resolve DNA molecules with visible light, superfast computers that use light rather than electronic signals to process information, and Harry Potteresque invisibility cloaks are just some of the many thrilling promises of transformation optics. In this burgeoning field of science, light waves can be controlled at all lengths of scale through the unique structuring of metamaterials, composites typically made from metals and dielectrics - insulators that become polarised in the presence of an electromagnetic field. The idea is to transform the physical space through which light travels, sometimes referred to as 'optical space,' in a manner similar to the way in which outer space is transformed by the presence of a massive object under Einstein's relativity theory...