The big secret behind the inner workings of my head is constant analyzation, such as the insanity that I was reading a non-fiction on conceptual and advanced physics at midnight. However, 27 pages into the book, in an academic thought train on
Invisibility, I realized how amazing Physics was, in comparision to what I want to be, a Civil Engineer. (Watch out, I'ma building your houses in 4 years
)
Either way, it started with a discussion on light, which is the velocity of a fluctuation between magnetic and electric fields, produced through Maxwell's 8 fundamental differential equations. From there, we need to look at refractive indexes, and the properties of refraction. Vacuum's reflect light at 1.0000, Air is 1.00003, and a crystaline structure has a refractive index of 2.3 (I only knew the refractive index of a vacuum off the top of my head >.>). Either way, no matter what your looking at, we can create pathways in circuitry that span a total of 30nm (150 atoms across. 150.NOT 150,000,000; .150*10^3). Also, there has been great progress in a field called metamaterials, where we have created "impossible" materials that refract light negatively, or to say, its pretty much bouncing off or deflecting around the structure. The way its described in the book is that its similar to the way water runs around a boulder in a river, or the aerodynamics of a car, the smoothest possible flow of light possible.
However, we must have a refracting surface 10x smaller than the distance of the light wavelength. This means that we need to create things in a 5-15nm range, which is probably about 15-45atoms wide. On a relative scale, thats remarkable. Continuing on that train of thought, the author then pointed out that we could therefore use light to create currents in electricity, and use common metals instead of powerful conductors like copper, because we're simply aligning atoms in a rhythm, and then dispersing the information of the previous wavelength into the new one. Which is even better because we're going to run out of silicon in the next 50 years, which would mean no more Fiesta.
However, with the ability to conduct an electrical current in a miniscule computer, a proverbial galore of technologies could be invented. Since the standard processor would be smaller than your thumb, we could have bracelets and headsets that would be a visual HUD. While some sort of tactile "typing surface" would have to be implemented, extendable windows made of a liquid that could display images could be a headset, with a cord running through the body or up the back of a shirt unobtrusively, would create a connection between the bracelet and the screen.
Going back on topic, we could use streamlined light in order to have light "bend" around an object, which would render it, effectively, invisible to the naked eye. Since we have already developed techniques to create invisibility, using plastics, resins, and other materials, we could effectively mask an object from all forms of detectability. Which is scary that you could have someone stalking you with no ability to be found. The potential rammifications and positives about this technology are astounding, and the process for making them is no harder than making a processor today.