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Cloaking a Sensor

Andrea Alù and Nader Engheta
Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 233901 – Published 8 June 2009
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Abstract

We propose the general concept of cloaking a sensor without affecting its capability to receive, measure, and observe an incoming signal. This may be obtained by using a plasmonic sensor, based on cloaking, made of materials available in nature at infrared and optical frequencies, or realizable as a metamaterial at lower frequencies. The result is a sensing system that may receive and transmit information, while its presence is not perceived by the surrounding, which may be of fundamental importance in a wide range of biological, optics, physics, and engineering applications.

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  • Received 6 February 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.233901

©2009 American Physical Society

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Seeing without being seen

Published 8 June 2009

Materials with unusual optical properties may allow the construction of sensors surrounded by a cloaking shell that makes the detectors undetectable.

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Authors & Affiliations

Andrea Alù1,2,† and Nader Engheta2,*

  • 1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C0803, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
  • 2Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania 200 South 33rd Street, ESE 203 Moore, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103, USA

  • *To whom correspondence should be addressed: engheta@ee.upenn.edu
  • alu@mail.utexas.edu

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Issue

Vol. 102, Iss. 23 — 12 June 2009

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