Is it possible to create a cloaking device using phonon modes in light?

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter skywolf
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Device Idea
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the feasibility of creating a cloaking device using phonon modes in light, with a focus on the transparency of materials like glass and the interaction between photons and phonons. Participants explore theoretical concepts related to crystal structures, vibrational patterns, and the implications for invisibility.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that glass is transparent because photons interact with outer atoms and transfer energy to inner atoms via phonons, leading to a change in vibrational patterns that allows photons to pass through.
  • Another participant challenges this view, stating that phonons exist due to all ions in the crystal lattice and that it is the photon that is transported through the medium, not phonons.
  • A participant questions whether inducing the right kind of phonon mode in a material could render it invisible.
  • There are inquiries about the interaction of phonon modes and whether they can interfere with each other when photons enter a medium from different directions.
  • Clarifications are made that photons do not create phonon modes, indicating a misunderstanding in the initial claims about their relationship.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the relationship between photons and phonons, with no consensus reached on the mechanisms of transparency or the potential for creating a cloaking device.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved questions regarding the assumptions about phonon modes and their interactions, as well as the definitions of transparency in relation to crystal structures.

skywolf
Messages
81
Reaction score
0
would this work?

first of all, i need to know if my reasons for glass being transparent are correct. glass is a crystal, therefore, when the outermost atoms are hit by lthe first photons, the energy, by way of phonons is transferred to the inner atoms as well. when the second photons come by, theyre like "this atom has already been hit by photons and it doesn't fit my vibrational pattern any more" and so they keep going.

now this theory makes sense to most crystals, but I am sure they arent all transparent, just like they don't all perfectly tune into the photons vibrational pattern (wavelength)

i was wondering if that made any sence, and if so, could you make some sort of fabric that when hit by light, sent phonons into the substance it covered therefore rendering it invisible?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Please read the FAQ in this section of PF.

Zz.
 
yeah, i read it before, i guess this is my way of trying to understand it, i was wondering if it made any sence.
 
"Phonons" exist not just due to one, two, 12, 240, etc. ions in the lattice. It exists due to ALL of them within the crystal. So one can't say that phonons are "transfered" to the inner atoms. It doesn't make much sense. Either that vibrational mode exists, or it doesn't.

It is the photon that is being transported through the medium, not phonons. The existence of phonon modes dictates if the medium can absorb that photon and converts the energy to vibration/heat.

Zz.
 
so if i could "induce" the right kind of phonon mode in myself, would i become invisible?
 
new question

if the photons are making phonon modes, why don't the phonon modes interfere with each other?
i mean if light is coming at glass in one direction and the other one, would it ever interfere with itself?
 
skywolf said:
new question

if the photons are making phonon modes, why don't the phonon modes interfere with each other?
i mean if light is coming at glass in one direction and the other one, would it ever interfere with itself?

Correction! The photons do NOT "make" phonon modes.

Zz.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
3K
  • · Replies 46 ·
2
Replies
46
Views
6K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
Replies
2
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
8K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
5K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
4K