It turns out that all those fantasies of looking through walls (and other things) may soon become a reality.
How? I hear you ask.
The answer lies with two things: Terahertz Radiation and Meta Materials.
Terahertz Waves 101: these waves are close to radio waves and microwaves in the electromagnetic spectrum, and have similar properties to x-rays, yet with a much lower chance of death (pretty much nonexistent). They can penetrate objects up to a certain density (depending on wavelength), commonly they are used to scan people going through airports to pick up firearms, drugs, and explosives.
Metamaterials are able to act as 'pixels' in various applications. The most recent of these was an 'invisibilty cloak' which took pictures of the background and copied it onto a layer of these 'pixels'.
Where can you preorder them? Unfortunately more like when.
The technology is currently limited to a large-scale process with heavy machinery. This is due to the power of the beams being projected. The glasses themselves are very complex and could take years to design to a small enough scale, and even then, it may still look like a Visual Boy strapped to your head.
The true limiting factor is the fact that not enough and not powerful enough terahertz beams can be emitted from a feasibly sized device. And then there's the issue of power, too.
Well guys, keep on dreaming... Maybe one day.
Just remember this famous statement:
"In the future, computers may weigh no more than 1.5 tons"
Source:
Engadget
