Physicists demonstrate a time mirror for the first time, reversing electromagnetic waves in a laboratory led by Dr. Hussein Moussa.

This sort of time flip has been described as looking into a mirror and spotting your back instead of your face…By carefully adjusting electronic components on a strip of metal, they introduced a sudden jump that reversed the direction of incoming signals…The outcome was a time-reversed copy of the original wave, appearing just as predicted but never before seen with clarity…A wave that can jump to a new frequency and then rewind might open new possibilities for data transmission at different ranges of the spectrum. It could also reshape how certain sensors and imaging systems are designed.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    16·
    10 days ago

    To achieve this, the group used an engineered metamaterial designed to control electromagnetic wave behavior in unusual ways. Metamaterials allow scientists to manipulate waves far beyond ordinary mirrors or lenses.

    By carefully adjusting electronic components on a strip of metal, they introduced a sudden jump that reversed the direction of incoming signals. They filled the strip with electronic switches hooked to capacitor banks.

    That arrangement supplied the necessary burst of energy to force the wave to flip direction in time, an effect that used to be considered nearly impossible with accessible power.

    I don’t fully comprehend, but that’s not a problem. Science is so effing cool.