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From: as on 16 Mar 2010 15:24

this article is somewhat misleading because i reported several months
ago about a paper relating to satellites that can see through walls.
also xray pictures are no novelty.

--------------------------------------
Physicists Find Way to See Through Paint, Paper, and Other Opaque
Materials
http://www.scienced aily.com/ releases/ 2010/03/10030813 2052.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 9, 2010) — Materials such as paper, paint, and
biological tissue are opaque because the light that passes through
them is scattered in complicated and seemingly random ways. A new
experiment conducted by researchers at the City of Paris Industrial
Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution (ESPCI) has shown
that it's possible to focus light through opaque materials and detect
objects hidden behind them, provided you know enough about the
material.

The experiment is reported in the current issue of Physical Review
Letters, and is the subject of Viewpoint in APS Physics by Elbert van
Putten and Allard Mosk of the University of Twente.

In order to demonstrate their approach to characterize opaque
substances, the researchers first passed light through a layer of zinc
oxide, which is a common component of white paints. By studying the
way the light beam changed as it encountered the material, they were
able to produce a numerical model called a transmission matrix, which
included over 65,000 numbers describing the way that the zinc oxide
layer affected light. They could then use the matrix to tailor a beam
of light specifically to pass through the layer and focus on the other
side. Alternatively, they could measure light emerging from the opaque
material, and use the matrix to assemble of an image of an object
behind it.

In effect, the experiment shows that an opaque material could serve as
a high quality optical element comparable to a conventional lens, once
a sufficiently detailed transmission matrix is constructed. In
addition to allowing us to peer through paper or paint, and into
cells, the technique opens up the possibility that opaque materials
might be good optical elements in nano-scale devices, at levels where
the construction of transparent lenses and other components is
particularly challenging.

Story Source:

Adapted from materials provided by American Physical Society, via
EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Journal References:

1. S. M. Popoff, G. Lerosey, R. Carminati, M. Fink, A. C. Boccara,
and S. Gigan. Measuring the Transmission Matrix in Optics: An Approach
to the Study and Control of Light Propagation in Disordered Media.
Physical Review Letters, 2010; DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett .104.100601
2. Elbert G. van Putten and Allard P. Mosk. The information age in
optics: Measuring the transmission matrix. Physics, 2010; 3 (22) DOI:
10.1103/Physics. 3.22
From: nuny on 16 Mar 2010 17:19
On Mar 16, 12:24 pm, as <assid...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> this article is somewhat misleading because i reported several months
> ago about a paper relating to satellites that can see through walls.
> also xray pictures are no novelty.

The story below talks about using light in the visible part of the
spectrum, not x-rays, and right up close, not from orbit.

We live in an increasingly monitored world, but usually you can see
the video cameras recording your every public move.

Now imagine a video camera that doesn't have a glass lens in front
to give away its existence; imagine instead it's in an innocuous-
looking utility box on a wall or ceiling, and it's capable of seeing
right through the seemingly opaque box.

That's the difference.

> --------------------------------------
> Physicists Find Way to See Through Paint, Paper, and Other Opaque
> Materialshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/ 2010/03/10030813 2052.htm
>
> ScienceDaily (Mar. 9, 2010) — Materials such as paper, paint, and
> biological tissue are opaque because the light that passes through
> them is scattered in complicated and seemingly random ways. A new
> experiment conducted by researchers at the City of Paris Industrial
> Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution (ESPCI) has shown
> that it's possible to focus light through opaque materials and detect
> objects hidden behind them, provided you know enough about the
> material.
>
> The experiment is reported in the current issue of Physical Review
> Letters, and is the subject of Viewpoint in APS Physics by Elbert van
> Putten and Allard Mosk of the University of Twente.
>
> In order to demonstrate their approach to characterize opaque
> substances, the researchers first passed light through a layer of zinc
> oxide, which is a common component of white paints. By studying the
> way the light beam changed as it encountered the material, they were
> able to produce a numerical model called a transmission matrix, which
> included over 65,000 numbers describing the way that the zinc oxide
> layer affected light. They could then use the matrix to tailor a beam
> of light specifically to pass through the layer and focus on the other
> side. Alternatively, they could measure light emerging from the opaque
> material, and use the matrix to assemble of an image of an object
> behind it.
>
> In effect, the experiment shows that an opaque material could serve as
> a high quality optical element comparable to a conventional lens, once
> a sufficiently detailed transmission matrix is constructed. In
> addition to allowing us to peer through paper or paint, and into
> cells, the technique opens up the possibility that opaque materials
> might be good optical elements in nano-scale devices, at levels where
> the construction of transparent lenses and other components is
> particularly challenging.
>
> Story Source:
>
> Adapted from materials provided by American Physical Society, via
> EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
>
> Journal References:
>
> 1. S. M. Popoff, G. Lerosey, R. Carminati, M. Fink, A. C. Boccara,
> and S. Gigan. Measuring the Transmission Matrix in Optics: An Approach
> to the Study and Control of Light Propagation in Disordered Media.
> Physical Review Letters, 2010; DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett .104.100601
> 2. Elbert G. van Putten and Allard P. Mosk. The information age in
> optics: Measuring the transmission matrix. Physics, 2010; 3 (22) DOI:
> 10.1103/Physics. 3.22

Yep, any object around you could have a camera and transmitter in
it, and no hole for the lens to see through is required any more.
Presumably more computer processing power is required to construct the
transmission matrix that will allow it to see through thicker and/or
more complex materials, but Moore's Law keeps getting bent, if not
broken. You can think of it as a *really* smart lens attachment.

This ought to drive the conspiracy theorists even crazier than they
are.

Thanks for posting this.


Mark L. Fergerson
 | 
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