ABSTRACT
In the present chapter, we discuss miscellaneous functionalities
of cloaks for heat and mass diffusion processes first proposed in
the transient regime by Guenneau et al. (2012) [1] and Guenneau
and Puvirajesinghe (2013) [2]. Such designs are based upon the
extension of transformational optics to the academic disciplines
of thermodynamics and biophysics. More precisely, in a similar
manner to the English physicist Sir John Pendry and his American
colleagues David Schurig and David Smith who proposed in Ref. [3]
to design an invisibility cloak by mapping Maxwell’s equations on a
curvilinear space with a hole in it (where an object can be hidden),
one can make coordinate changes in equations of thermodynamics
and biochemistry [1, 2] governing convection-diffusion phenomena.
Interestingly, the transformed Fick’s equation described by Guen-
neau and Puvirajesinghe (2013) [2] can also be applied to models
of invisibility cloaks for light in diffusive media [4]. A multitude
of research papers have been published in the past three years on
the control of diffusive processes via artificial anisotropy, therefore
justifying the fact that thermal and biochemical metamaterials are
no longer a niche but rather a fast-growing subject [5].
