Scientists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona have created a magnetic field cloak, or ‘wormhole,’ which could lead to better MRI scanning.
“The wormhole allows a magnetic field to be transported across space but it is not the kind of cosmic tunnel popularised by science fiction. Rather, the magnetic field at one end of the wormhole appears at the other end as an isolated magnetic monopolar field, creating the illusion of a magnetic field propagating through a tunnel outside the 3D space,” according to The Register.
“The research uses artificial so-called metamaterials that interact with electromagnetic fields, and helps forward the way to the creation of light invisibility cloaks. A magnetic hose was pulled through a sphere of magnetic material and superconductive strips which hid the deflection of incoming fields, resulting in a magnetic monopole,” researchers added.
This discovery means MRI scanners could work without interference and the chamber patients lie in during scans could be widened. The possibility of magnetic technology and medical equipment is also a new possibility.
“Based on metamaterials, it could allow electromagnetic wave propagation between two points in space through an invisible tunnel. Using magnetic metamaterials and metasurfaces, our wormhole transfers the magnetic field from one point in space to another through a path that is magnetically undetectable. We experimentally show that the magnetic field from a source at one end of the wormhole appears at the other end as an isolated magnetic monopolar field, creating the illusion of a magnetic field propagating through a tunnel outside the 3D space,” researchers added.
